Experiences of art therapy in the Casa Sollievo Bimbi

Art therapy is a discipline that has acquired a significant dimension in the interventions with people – particularly children – of all ages, especially those with physical or mental disabilities. According to this discipline, art and artistic activities represent the way for facilitating self-expression as well as for expressing one’s own emotions and thoughts through channels different from the word – for those who can’t – opening up the possibility of discovering the world through objects and movement.

Art, therefore, represents a place in which it’s possible to give a visible and sharable form to one’s life experiences, a means of support for people, and a non-verbal mediation that functions thanks to artistic materials.

Our rapport with what is outside of us is a daily lived encounter, but for children with incurable diseases, it can’t be taken for granted. Thanks to art therapy, the sensorial stimulation is amplified, and so, too, the awareness that the little patients have of the world and of themselves, with a consequent improvement of self-esteem and psychological well-being.

For this reason, the Associazione Vidas has decided to propose activities of art therapy both in its pediatric hospice, Casa Sollievo Bimbo, and at home, thanks, too, to the support of the Fondazione Prossimo Mio.

Even the parents are helped, too. They discover a new language for relating to their children. Art can go where the word can’t.