Meet the Team Behind: Drawchange

Drawchange uses art as a medium for kids in need around the world to express themselves and dream of a brighter future. Their programs utilize art therapy, helping children lean into their creative instincts and coping with stress along the way. Learn more about their work here! 

Can you tell me about the need for your work? 

We contribute to the education of homeless, refugee, asylum-seeking, and at-risk 5-10 year old children by bringing art into their daily lives. Children are naturally creative, but many have no means or encouragement to envision a break in the cycle of poverty. Art can be a vehicle to reach out to students and ignite a love of learning. We provide the means to improve school attendance, leading to gains in academic performance and giving each child the ability ot fully express themselves. 

What do your programs entail?

Our students create art projects centered around breaking the cycle of poverty, and it can be interpreted however they desire. We take kids on field trips, expose them to new kids of art, and host art shows where they can proudly display their work. We integrate both the arts and arts therapy into children’s general curriculum, helping students improve self-esteem, critical thinking skills, and coping mechanisms. Our programs instill skills that foster imagination, collaboration, empowerment, and stress relief. Our curriculum was created by licensed art therapists and is consistently being improvised to meet the growing needs of the kids we work with. 

Who are the kids that you work with? 

We serve children in Atlanta, Orlando, Tucson, and Puerto Rico, as well as abroad. In Ethiopia, we partner with a community center and a school to bring creative programming directly to kids, and we have a self-sufficient art program running at a school in Costa Rica. We meet children in their environment— in afterschool programs, homeless shelters, orphanages, or wherever they are spending time. We also have a product called the drawchange Blueprint, which is a comprehensive online tool that allows any child around the world to use our program. 

What kinds of projects do your students create? 

Our students learn to color intricate mandalas for stress relief, use colors to visualize their emotions, create paper birds that represent their inner dreams, and much more. We use guided questions like “What is the difference between a house and a home?” or “What are your feelings about what is happening in the world today?” to encourage creativity and expression. Often, our projects spur from conversations about emotions and dreams for the future. We provide kids with a platform to share their thoughts, feelings, and deepen their understanding of the world around them.