Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery and Hope

Art exhibition by children who are challenged opens Sept. 12Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery and Hope, a touring exhibit of more than 100 artworks created by children with developmental, psychological and physical challenges will be presented at the Museum of Health & Medical Science, 1515 Hermann Drive, September 12 - October 15. The exhibit was created by New York University's Child Study Center to help eliminate the stigma surrounding children's mental health problems, by putting a face on the 8-10 million children in this country who suffer with mental illness.

The exhibition, which opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in November 1999, is touring nationally through 2002. It has been seen in Atlanta, New Orleans, Palm Beach, Dallas and Los Angeles. After its Houston stop, the exhibit is scheduled to continue to San Francisco, Austin, Albuquerque and Roswell, New Mexico, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery and Hope, and a book published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., that accompanies it, is the centerpiece of the National Child Mental Health Initiative, a public awareness campaign launched by the New York University Child Study Center and its founder and director Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz. For the exhibition and the book, edited by Dr. Koplewicz and Dr. Robin F. Goodman, the Child Study Center invited clinicians and educators nationwide to submit artworks made by children ages 4 to 18. A prominent jury of scholars, artists and educators, including the internationally known artist Jennifer Bartlett, and Paul Goldberger, a writer for The New Yorker and former culture editor of The New York Times, made the final selection of 102 works featured in the exhibition and book.

"Childhood Revealed gives us a glimpse into the world of children who have psychiatric illnesses or emotional problems," explains Cindy Bandemer, director of education and programs at the Museum of Health & Medical Science. "This extraordinary artwork illuminates the hearts and minds of children coping with and surviving some of the worst of what life has to offer. The art shows their struggles, but it also demonstrates their hopes for a future beyond their struggles."

The paintings, drawings and sculptures on display at the Museum of Health & Medical Science this fall will be accompanied by the artists' own personal commentaries. The works reflect the children's struggles with problems such as depression, autism and psychoses, learning differences, divorce, physical illnesses, eating disorders and abuse. The striking and colorful images encourage us to take a new look at how we view mental illness.

Says Dr. Koplewicz, "In the same way that the AIDS quilt put a human face on the disastrous epidemic of AIDS, we hope this exhibit will raise the profile of childhood mental disorders."

- By DEBBIE MAURER

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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