INSTRUCTIONAL Design
DRAW IT OUT
MY ROLES: Needs Assessment / Researcher • Book & Curriculum Co-Author • Book Designer • Art Director • Learning Aid & Marketing Collateral Developer • Partnership Manager • Training Co-Facilitator
Drawing Pain Out
“CeeCee” was found living in an abandoned warehouse in downtown Seattle, with no water, bathroom, or electricity; and for weeks at a time, no parent. When she began therapy, CeeCee couldn’t talk her experience. When asked, she’d whisper, “I don’t know,” curl up like a fist, and rock back and forth.
Talk therapy wasn’t working and her therapist needed a different approach and she turned to Art with Heart’s therapeutic books. When she began, CeeCee used only dark colors to scribble angrily. But over time, brighter colors lit up the pages of her copy of Draw It Out. CeeCee went from not being able to talk about her suffering to ”falling in love with this way of communicating” and used the books to find words to help her overcome her past, forgive her mother, and gain confidence.
CeeCee also began offering advice to other kids. “If you cry while you draw,” she says, “it’s okay because it’s getting sadness or anger out. That’s good because then you don’t have to carry it around inside your heart.” Her therapist says that CeeCee is “visibly lighter” now—and instead of being balled up, these days CeeCee leaves the office skipping.
CHILL & SPILL
MY ROLES: Needs Assessment / Researcher • Book & Curriculum Co-Author •
Art Director • Learning Aid & Marketing Collateral Developer •
Partnership Manager • Training Co-Facilitator
Healing from Trauma
Madelyn joined an after school Chill & Spill club but her shyness almost kept her away. The Club was made up of ’tweens who were all going through various difficulties and she found that she fit right in.
“It was like one of those support groups, except instead of having to talk about what’s bothering you, you could show it through the art you make,” she explains, “Somehow using your imagination and doing art makes you feel better about things.”
During Club, she shared that she felt “free and happy” and could be herself and share what was on her heart—and still be accepted. The group started each session in the books, and then moved into supportive creative projects that helped deepen the learning.
One of the projects the group did was called “Helping Hands".” She was proud of it because it helped her after her stepdad, who had raised her since she was little, had been murdered.
“Going through these activities helped me think about him with less sadness and it also helped me forgive the people who hurt him.”
There was one project from Chill & Spill that she credits to helping her “get all my grudges out.” In the book, it asks you to write a letter to someone you miss. “I had a lot of words inside of me.” Then the group was asked to rip the letter up and make it into a collage. Says Madeline, “That was the first day that I really let it all out. I felt so relieved. It really helped me learn that there’s help and hope in our community. “
MAGNIFICENT MARVELOUS ME
MY ROLES: Needs Assessment / Researcher • Book & Curriculum Co-Author •
Book Designer • Art Director • Learning Aid & Marketing Collateral Developer •
Partnership Manager
Expressing Strength
Maria and her older sister Gloria were extremely close; they had a special bond. So when Gloria developed a rare childhood cancer and passed away, Maria felt lost. “I sleep with a picture of her, her teddy bear, and her pillows,” she said. “I miss her a lot and I’m sad that she’s gone.”
Creativity became Maria’s lifeline. Her Magnificent Marvelous Me! gave her a place to process her grief and give voice to what she was feeling. Maria said, “Doing art helps me express my emotions, things that are deep down inside.” Eventually, her world became bright again.
Several years later, Maria suffered another loss when her younger brother Anthony died suddenly. The shock affected not only Maria and her family, but also Anthony’s classmates.
Art with Heart visited his classroom to help his friends work through their loss in healthy ways. “It’s been a hard time and has put a lot of pressure on our class,” said one of his friends. Creative expression became a way for them to begin to come to terms with his death. As the children began to draw their emotions on the pages of their workbooks, their healing began in earnest. The children were allowed to return to the books whenever they needed to. Teacher, Terry, described the books as “their textbook for healing.”
INK ABOUT IT
MY ROLES: Needs Assessment / Researcher • Book & Curriculum Co-Author •
Book Designer • Art Director
Supporting difficult transitions
15 year-old Jessalyn moved to a new town and school shortly after her sister died. During lunchtime, she encountered bullies who teased her because of her stutter and hand-me-downs. Frustrated about these transitions, she began acting aggressively in class.
Her teacher eventually referred to the school counselor who used Ink About It as a way to connect Jessalyn to her feelings. As they worked together through the pages, Jessalyn began to process her sister’s prolonged illness and death as well as the impact the move had on her.
As she began to understand the connection between her temper and her unexpressed grief, she was able to make different choices that didn’t cause her to get into trouble. She told her counselor that it helped her “say stuff in the book that I can’t say out loud and that really, really helps.”