Mistakes to Opportunities

Julia Crawford assisting a child with his art project

Sunday's art therapy group with the Bhutanese children taught them a valuable life lesson...even if we make mistakes, we can turn them into other opportunities and better choices for the future.  The lesson began the group prior when a child accidentally smeared black paint on his paper.  The child asked for another piece to re-start his project.  Julia Crawford, lead therapeutic movement instructor, gave the child another paper, yet in the moment, recognized an opportunity to share a life lesson.  "Maybe we could make something out of this mistake. Sometimes the best pieces of art come out of mistakes that we make into something new.”  

Sunday's group aimed to continue this lesson by asking children to repeat a similar visual art activity only this time using textured materials on paper instead of paint.  The decrease in structure surrounding this activity allowed children's creativity to flow more freely, thus more mistakes made, more opportunities taken and life lessons learned. View images from the class below.