Opening Minds Through Art

Opening Reception: February 26, 5-7 PM, Free and open to the public

Atlantic Center for the Arts is pleased to announce its Arts & Wellness Program. Through community engagement, this program will highlight the work of artists and art therapists who work with patients and the public to address the stress and issues involved with treatment, recovery, loss, caregiving, and everyday life.

Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an intergenerational art program for people with dementia. It is grounded in person-centered ethics and founded on the fact that people with dementia are capable of expressing themselves creatively. There is a growing body of empirical evidence that creative expression improves their physical and psychological well-being. The mission of OMA is to build bridges across age and cognitive barriers through art.
The OMA program is implemented in group sessions: Up to 12 people with dementia with the assistance of 12 trained volunteers working on a one-to-one basis. The art-making sessions culminate in gallery exhibitions celebrating the artists’ accomplishments while educating the public about the creative capacities of people with dementia.

We are proud to present this exhibition celebrating the creative capacities of people with dementia while educating the public about Arts and Wellness and The National Center for Creative Aging’s, Creative Caregiving Initiative. For more information about the NCCA and the Creative Caregiving Initiative please visit www.creativeaging.org/programs-people/ncca-creative-caregiving-initiative. For more information about Opening Minds Through Art, please visit www.scrippsoma.org

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Howard and Lenore Roland with a special thank you to Opening Minds Through Art founder, Dr. Elizabeth Lokon.