Art and Developmental Disabilities

Giving Voice to Those Who Have Difficulty Expressing Themselves

I saw a video recently about artists with developmental disabilities. What struck me in particular about art and developmental disabilities was how the desire to create was not only not diminished by the disability, but that it seemed to provide the same benefits as with the non-disabled. It was also quite obvious how much they enjoyed what they were doing.

I suppose it shouldn’t surprise anyone that disability or not, there is still a need for expression. Perhaps even more so. Most people when faced with stressful situations, verbalize how they feel. We might vent our frustrations to a friend. If something is worrying us, we communicate our concerns to someone we trust. Many who have developmental disabilities are unable to adequately verbalize their feelings. Due to no fault of their own, they are unable to get things out. They have no other choice than to internalize things. But just because they don’t have the means to communicate these emotions doesn’t mean that they don’t feel them.

Art and creativity, as I covered in a previous post, helps to relieve stress. So if this is the case, then art and mental disability seems like a good combination. There are a number of programs throughout the United States and around the world (though not nearly enough) that offer art for the developmentally disabled. The Ann Storck Center in Ft. Lauderdale, FL is one of these places. Here, individuals are encouraged to express themselves through art. They can also earn money through their artworks that sell. In turn, the artists develop a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Ann Storck Center in Ft. Lauderdale

Sara Lige is a Canadian contemporary artist and mother of an adult child with a developmental disability. She recognized that most of the limited programs out there address things from a clinical point of view. There are even fewer which encourages creativity purely for the sake of being creative. In addition, worldwide there is little recognition of those with developmental disabilities as being creative. Nobody really thinks of them that way. Seeing the value of programs that involve art and developmental disabilities, she began her program as a graduate level research project at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. That eventually led to her founding Cool Arts, a non-profit society dedicated to providing those with developmental disabilities with the opportunity to create art.

Sara Lige, Founder of Cool Arts

On the extremely rare side of the issue are the savants. Savant, meaning learned one, or one of high intelligence is different from idiot savant. I am not alone in finding the term offensive. But as of this date, there is no politically correct term for these people. At any rate, the latter refers to individuals with developmental disabilities who show an incredible gift in certain areas, such as music, art, or math. The 1988 movie, Rain Man was based on one such individual. Kim Peek remembered everything he ever read accurately, including phone books and 42,000+ zip codes in the U.S. But he had difficulty doing simple tasks like getting dressed and combing his hair. He read 8-10 books a day, reading the left page with his left and the right page with his right eye.

I could not have written an article about art and developmental disabilities without highlighting some of these extraordinary artists. I became aware of the first young man a few years ago. Stephen Wiltshire spent the first five years of his life without speaking. He cried and screamed a lot. Imagine his frustration! That all changed when he discovered drawing. Stephen is an autistic artistic savant. He can study a cityscape for ten minutes and then draw it entirely from memory. The number of floors in the buildings, the number of windows…all of it.

Stephen Wiltkins

For full length documentary on Stephen, click here.

Another incredible artist is Richard Wawro, whose works are done entirely in crayon. A popular medium for children, but almost entirely ignored by adults, Richard prefers them. And he never sharpens them!

Richard Wawro

Gilles Trehin started building an imaginary city with Legos. But with the limited space of his bedroom, he settled instead on drawing this imaginary city called, Urville. He’s been working on Urville for more than 20 years!

Gilles Trehin

Alonzo Clemons suffered a serious head injury when he was just a boy. His injuries caused permanent brain damage. His animal sculptures are accurate and lifelike. He creates them entirely from his mind without the need to look at the animal.

Alonzo Clemons