The act of creating art has meaningful benefits to youth throughout their different developmental stages.  Unique benefits include addressing depression, stress relief, balancing mental health, and countering addiction to technology.  Through developing connection to self through creativity, an outlet for self expression, and toolkits for using creativity to thrive amidst adversity; we are committed to changing lives through art and creativity.

Awareness

Through learning to closely observe our thoughts, we gain greater self-control and self-understanding.

Acceptance

By learning to accept reality as it is, we develop greater emotional resiliency through challenging times.

Intention

Students learn to develop clear goals, and how to achieve them through daily focus.

Gratitude

Going beyond “gratitude lists,” students will learn simple ways to practice and feel gratitude in daily life.

Compassion

Kindness and thoughtfulness are at the center of this tool, as well as empathy and patience.

Forgiveness

By learning to “let go” of past hurts, we are able to be more effective in the present.

Connection

Students learn to deepen their connection to their fellow students, nature, beauty, service and their surroundings.

Some of the direct benefits include:

• Self Development through Art

• The Importance of the Creative Self

• Wellness of Being and Connection

• Wellness of Being and Self Expression

• Developing Imagination

• Imagination and Creation (Designing a life worth living)

Part of the becoming whole, includes developing the Creative Self. The act of creating art engages two different, unique mental faculties: Total Attention and Original Thought. Total attention - the immersed focus required in creating - similar to what is developed through sports - is more important than ever in an age of distraction, fragmentation, and screen technologies. The other exercised mental faculty is Original Thought - something truly unique to the creative experience. The state of Original Thought is an effective tool in disrupting habitual behaviors such as addiction to technology.  The state created at the intersection of Total Attention and Original Thought is a pure state of the Creative Self, and it has its own unique neurological signature that can achieve an alpha-theta brainwave state through prolonged experiences in this state.  The is the heightened state of the Creative Self, and the more time spent in this state, then the more developed the creative self will be, and more integrated into the whole of character it will become.

The Creative Self is where we access imagination, innovation, creative confidence, and ideation.  These creative thought processes - when applied to the everyday challenges of change as a constant - result in flexibility, resilience, adaptivity, and creative problem solving.  Collectively, our Creative Self is where we develop and harness our creative toolkit: imagination, innovation, creative confidence, ideation, flexibility, resilience, adaptivity, and creative problem solving.  When someone has developed their creative toolkit, they confidently meet life’s challenges and changes with creativity and flexibility.  Without a developed toolkit, they meet life’s challenges with resistance, resentment, and an aversion to change. Art is really about developing the Creative Self and a strong creative toolkit.  Life is change, and creativity is the toolkit.

To be inspired, is to be connected to what it means to be uniquely human.  An artist came into our gallery at our first show three years ago.  She was experiencing the most challenging and tragic period of her life - her father and sister had both become ill and passed within the last 9 months.  She noted that as an artist, she had not created a single thing since, and that the world “had turned grey” in her depression.  And then something happened at our show, “It’s like a pilot light switched back on,” she said.  That night, inspired ideas came to her, and the next morning she created the photoshoot to capture her ideas.  And like that, “life was in color again.”  This is the power of art, and to become connected to our humanity, is to touch a healing spark of the Divine. So,  “What is the purpose of art, and of being an artist?”  Beyond the idea that “art is pretty to look at,” how does art bring meaning to life?  When we are captivated and drawn to art - we are overwhelmed with feelings beyond words.  It is that state of awe that separates us from the rest of the known galaxy of animals - humankind’s ability to feel inspired, to feel hope, compassion, complexity, triumph - to be moved is to be human.  To be moved by art is to be connected to the best of our own humanity and what it means to be human.  And so in daily life, artwork becomes the touch-points back to that source humanity - a path back to spirit and connectedness.  Art is invitation to remember what it means to be human, and an invitation back to the journey of the soul that sits subtly under our every day bustle.

Everyone must create - life itself, is a practice of constant creation.

There is a direct correlation between expressing oneself - from the validation of feelings to the practice of processing emotions - that is at the foundation of mental health and art.  Whether it be addressing and processing emotions, trauma, and energy through expression - or using the meditative act of creating as a form of neurological regulation - the mental health benefits of creating daily are vast, and an quickly expanding field of art therapy and mental health programs.

What is imagination? And why does it matter?

Imagination is what could be.

And its how we create the future.

And the way we create future out of infinite possibilities of imagination is by taking all that could be, and refining it into a clear vision.  And then take that vision, and charge it with positive creative energy, and then birth it into the present/future world.  As Dr. Joe Dispenza says, “the best way to predict the future, is to create it.”

And so the practice of creating art, is one of the most effective ways to model this process of harnessing imagination and vision, and turning it into something real in this world, in a way that is tangible and practical.   For youth, it illustrates and teaches how this internal process works, in creating our outside reality.  So by teaching youth art, we are sharpening and developing their tools of imagination, and illuminating the path from ideation into reality.  It’s more than just about the finished product - and it’s about more than art.  It’s about teaching the creative process, and how it relates to life and building a bright future.  Because its their imagination, that will define our future.

Creativity in our thoughts, is how we design our lives. It’s how we create the blueprint or framework of the life we want - our design for living.  To imagine, and to think in unlimited ways - we use the part of our mind that creates instead of just replays.  It’s where we let go of the records of the past and start creating maps of the future. A compass of vision, made out of ideas.

And once brought to life, our creative ideas have their own energy field and can generate the synchronistic involvement of people and circumstances required to carry the idea through to the next stage of it’s life.  The Ideas themselves come to life.  Imagination becomes reality.  And so the driving force of our lives, unfolding in each moment: Creation.

And art is the practice of creating, as creating is the practice of life.

And so it’s is through art, photography, poetry, music - we are strengthening the creative muscle, sharpening our creative tools, and shaping creative energy to design a life, filled with vision, fulfillment and meaning.