Opening Minds Through Art

[Annette Clark]: The docents are specially trained to know how to to keep that line of communication open. We don't just throw that person with dementia and their care partner into a room with somebody and say well what do you think about that art? That... It's just not done that way.

For this one lady... she wasn't always able to verbally communicate but you could tell that the art was touching a very special place for her. And the docent was very insightful one day and she wanted to use photography, so she brought in polaroid cameras and they took pictures and had just instantaneously... they would appear in front of the individual that had taken these pictures and just to see the emotion and the the the happiness that came as that person's picture developed right in front of her eyes was amazing.

All of these extraordinary paintings are created by people living with dementia and participating in the "Scripps Gerontology “Opening Minds through Art” (OMA) program" presented by Art for the Journey in Richmond, VA.

Gallery Two

This gallery contains approximately 30 abstract images created by Alzheimer's patients through the OMA (Opening Minds Through Art) program. Where known, each image is titled and attributed to the artist.