HOW TO NURTURE YOUR CHILD'S CREATIVITY

by Lisa Mitchell

It is very common for me to receive phone calls from people who feel that something is missing from their lives. Just the other day a woman called and wondered if her experience of boredom and emptiness was because she lacked creative expression in her life.   She didn't even know if she was the creative type. She couldn't quite find words to articulate why she thought art therapy might help.   She told me it sounded good, and she just wanted to try.   I often ask these callers if they've ever been allowed to express their passion through art; was there anything fostered in their childhood about how to be creative.   The response is overwhelmingly negative.   They say, “My parents didn't like the mess, they stressed academic success, I wasn't really very artistic anyway.”

It is because of these sorts of calls that I teach parent seminars on how to nurture your child's creativity.   Our ability to foster creative expression in our children is a vital skill.   To respond to our children's innate desire to create and to support an environment where this is not stifled is crucial to their development. And because of our early learning and our own lack of creative expression this seemingly simple idea can be a challenge.

Creative expression is the very foundation of learning and relating.   It is a powerful vehicle for self-trust, self-awareness, and self-esteem in artists of any age.   It nurtures the same brain functioning that is necessary for successful problem solving.   Creative energy ultimately heightens our life experiences and prompts us to become activated and alive.

Creative expression gets low priority in our busy world and gets subtly discounted by societal values and assumptions.   As a parent, I often find my head spinning with my three kids' schedules—the sports practices and games, lessons, tutoring, work, etc.   It is a challenge to carve out the space and time in which meaningful creative expression can flourish.   It requires a keen awareness of the subtle ways in which we respond to our kids' art (and our own art) and an understanding that ultimately our responses can either squelch or grow access to creative expression.   We were all taught to squeal with delight when our preschooler presents us with a meticulously colored-in-the-lines portrait of Martin Luther King.   We were not taught about the negative effect that coloring books can have.   Or how to take the time to talk with our children about their art making process instead of excessively praising their product.   To nurture creativity, to allow the mess, to celebrate the art—these are our hearts' desires but they often get dismissed by our multi-tasking, product oriented world.

And yet, as an art therapist, I witness the renewal that happens when people take the time to engage in creative expression. As a parent, I rejoice when my children stop complaining of summer boredom and decide to squish paint or make a sculpture out of our old computer.   Personally, I am secretly thrilled that my daughter has glue permanently dried into her hair, and that I don't own an article of clothing free of paint stains.   These mementos are reminders of the process of creative expression.   This is the kind of expression that validates and fuels energy, passion, and aliveness in ourselves and our children.

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ART ACTIVITIES TO TRY

#1 Problem solving

Drawing is an excellent tool for discovering solutions to problems or initiating positive behavior change.   All you need are a couple of sheets of blank paper and crayons or markers.

Here are a few simple steps to follow.

1. Choose a situation that you'd like to change.   Visualize it.   Draw the situation as you see it.   Make your drawing real and honest.   Don't worry about how realistic your drawing looks it's the expression that counts.
2. Imagine how you want this situation changed.   Imagine what it would look like to have your present reality be different.   On another sheet of paper, draw this imagined future.
3. Putting the changed situation last and the present situation first, place five sheets of paper in between.   In five steps, illustrate how you can get from the present to the imagined, improved situation.   Don't worry about finding the “right” way.   There is no right way.   Simply draw and see what you discover.
4. Look closely at your five in-between drawings.   Make sure that each step flows naturally into the other.   You may find that there is a big leap between one drawing and the next.   For example,   if you are looking for a path in one drawing, and all of the sudden you find it in the next.   Or, if you are caged in one drawing and then you break free.   Ask yourself how that leap occurred and add another drawing that depicts the answer to your question.  
5. Tell the story of your drawings to yourself or someone you trust.   This story may have important clues that will illuminate the solution to your current problem.

Here is one person's example:

The situation that Bobbi wanted to change was her current work situation.   She didn't know how to get from the rigid structure of her current job to a more creative and personal endeavor.   As her drawings go from present to imagined, she becomes happier and the colors become lighter.   When asked, “How did that happen?   That was quite a leap!” she could pinpoint a change that happened between drawing #1 and #2.   She had drawn herself looking away from the rigid structure of her current job and looking toward her desired outcome.   She was elated to find that she had been focusing so closely on her current job atmosphere   that she had been holding herself back from making any changes.   When she saw that her first step was to turn toward her new endeavor she became more open to opportunities. She was excited to find that there were opportunities already presenting themselves that she hadn't even noticed.

#2   What's really going on?

This painting activity can be helpful in pinpointing the source of general feelings of sadness or anxiety.    All you need are some paints, brushes, and some large paper (16 x 24 is best).   In my studio we do this on the painting wall, but you can use   the kitchen table or the floor.   Make sure that you give yourself permission to be messy by laying out newspaper or a plastic tarp.

1. With your feeling in mind, ask yourself, “what color looks good?”   Without pre-visualizing your painting, allow yourself to start with a color and simply paint what feels right.   Keep going, adding colors, line, texture.   It might end up looking like something familiar, and it might not.  
2. When you are done with your first painting, spend some time looking at it.   Ask yourself, “Where is the visual interest?”   “What part is my eye most focused on?”
3. Use your answers to these questions as the starting point of you next painting.   Imagine that you are zooming in on something from your first painting, or looking beyond it, or behind it.  
4. Zoom again, and again, until you can't go anymore.   When you arrive at a place where you can no longer zoom, you will have many layers of information in your series of paintings.   Lay them out in order and watch as you go from general to more specific.  
5. Journal the story.   Tell someone you trust.   Identify what's really going on.

Here's one person's example:

Jason used this technique to try and understand the social anxiety he had.   He didn't like being in groups and feared being noticed.   He painted “A” and decided to zoom in on the orange color.   “It looked like a brightness that wanted to say something.”   In “B” he noticed that the orange began to part the darkness, and he wanted to focus on the motion that the orange paint was making.   In his final painting, “C”, he experienced a shift from the dark blacks to blues, purples and more orange.   He spent a long time working this painting in the same upward motion that he experienced in “B”.   At the end of this series, he linked the experience of coming out of the darkness in his painting to the same feelings he had in relation to growing up with a mentally ill sibling.   The tentative emergence of brightness and the intense effort involved in letting is shine mirrored his battle for attention and identity in his family of origin. With this series, he could now link these early experiences of anxiety to his fear of group situations. He was able to use this new understanding to identify what was really going on.

#3 Communication

This activity can be helpful to identify how well you and another person communicate.    You can do this with a partner, spouse, sibling, child, etc.   You will need a box of chalk pastels and one sheet of big paper (16 x 24).

In order to start the exercise, you both have to agree that there is no talking, just art making.   When you take the words away, the art speaks louder.

1. One person starts by making an art statement on the paper with color, line, and texture.   It's probably better if you don't write words.  
2. The other person responds to the first marks and adds to the overall picture.
3. Each person takes a turn until there is agreement that the drawing is finished.
4. Now take time to look at the end product.   Ask yourself and the other person questions like:   Does it look like one or two people drew this?   Are there boundaries or did we blend our lines together?   Was there a point where you didn't like the marks that the other person made?   What did you do with this?   Who led the conversation?   Who followed?   Were you listened to?   Did you listen with your marks?  
5. Draw parallels between your conversation in color and your communication in words.   What matches?   Where are there successes or failures?

Here is an example:

Tammy and I completed this drawing together in session.   She was having trouble feeling accepted by her peers, her parents, and her siblings.   She tended to be mean and critical in all of her communication in order to pre-empt the anticipated rejection.   She did this same style of communication with me.   When we started the drawing she didn't like that there were no words allowed, but agreed to find out what would happen.   The flow of the colors, the blending of lines, and the ability to claim her own accepted space   was thrilling for Tammy.   Our completed drawing depicts a togetherness that she rarely experienced.   This conversation in color showed her that she could communicate in a positive way and that she didn't have to assume that others were going to reject her.  

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Art Therapy Links

For more information on art therapy, therapy, and creativity:

American Art Therapy Association (AATA)
www.arttherapy.org

Northern California Art Therapy Association (NCATA)
www.norcata.com

California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)
www.camft.org

Malinda Hill, M.A.
www.drawntogether.com
Check out Malinda Hill's resource section for articles and more links.

Sterns Books, Expressive Art Therapies Catalog
www.sternsbooks.com
Great source for all expressive therapies information: books, videos, tapes.

Arts In Therapy
www.artsintherapy.com
An international community of creative arts therapists, including art therapy, music therapy, etc.   They have a HUGE list of resources for information on any creative arts therapy.

Raw Art Works
www.rawartworks.com
A non-profit organization that provides art activities for youth.   They bring art to the community and give youth the opportunity to express ‘what's really going on' through their art.  

Dick Blick Art Materials
www.dickblick.com
Good supplies, good prices.   I particularly like their Prang tempera.

Utrecht Art Store
www.utrechtart.com
Some of the best prices for good supplies.

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Art Therapy Books

Studio Art Therapy by Catherine Hyland Moon  
Moon's style is personal and real.   She shows the reader what an art therapist does and how one thinks and she is refreshingly transparent about the challenges that she faces.   She validates the artist in every art therapist by likening the art therapy studio to an art installation.

Trust the Process by Shaun McNiff
He says, “Art making teaches us to use mistakes as new ideas.” ‘It is not lack of talent that keeps us from creative expression, but fear and avoidance of the uncertainty that comes with creating.'

Soul's Palette by Cathy Malchiodi
Wonderful suggestions for therapeutic art activities like pocket shrines, specifics on choosing a medium, and how to tap into your emotional shorthand.

See What I'm Saying: What Children Tell Us Through Their Art by Myra Levick
A good start to understanding developmental stages in art, Levick provides the reader with examples of art from each developmental stage and a list of warning signs to watch out for.

Zen and the Art of Knitting   by Bernadette Murphy
She draws fabulous parallels between the process of knitting and the process of art.   Great for inspiration and for further glimpses into the power of the creative process.

I Wanna Take Me a Picture by Wendy Ewald
This is a remarkable book by a remarkable woman.   Wendy Ewald describes her artistic collaboration with youth to make pictures of their world.   She incorporates writing and photography in her work and tells inspiring stories.   She is not a therapist, but her work is very therapeutic.

Birthing From Within by Pam England
This book combines midwifery and art therapy.   Perfect for couples transitioning into parenthood.

Art Therapy for Groups   by Maria Leebman
This book is full of ideas and themes for group art therapy work.  

Phototherapy Techniques by Judy Weiser
Weiser describes her methods of photographic images in therapy.   She uses client's childhood photographs, her own photographs, magazine images, even photos produced by the client.   Her work is very powerful and inspirational.   You can also visit her at her website, www.phototherapy-centre.com .

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