Contemporary figurative artist, ADAM STONE, lead a wonderful painting workshop at SHRINERS HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN this month. The theme of the workshop was "Paradise". The children were given canvas boards and acrylic paints and encouraged to use their fingers, hands and arms. Adam instructed them to paint the sky and the earth. He taught them to draw a line down the middle of the page with pencil. On the top of the line was the sky and below the line, the earth. Adam went around the room and showed them how to create effects with their hands and paintbrushes. The result was many diverse and imaginative expressions of each child’s unique vision. Both the artist and the children were thrilled with their experience. "Doing the workshop was one of the most positive experiences in the 20 years of my art career," said Stone. "To see the smiles on the childrens' faces as they dipped their hands in the paint was incredible. It was pure magic to be able to take them to a different place for a few hours. I am really looking forward to participating with The Art of Elysium again."

A very special request came to us in the first week of June. DR. SUSAN MILLER, Clinical and Pediatric Psychologist for the Division of Plastic Surgery at CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES, had begun working with a 14 year old girl named Kate**, who, in addition to having Down syndrome, suffers from multiple severe medical issues. Kate has difficulty communicating and expressing emotions. Dr. Miller wanted to figure out alternative ways to get her to express herself and felt that it may be good to do tactile interventions such as finger painting and music lessons. She contacted THE ART OF ELYSIUM and requested that we begin private sessions with Kate. And so the journey began to once again witnessing the healing power of the arts. The first workshop was a finger painting workshop conducted by RUSSELL YOUNG, Chair of our Art Program. It took over an hour before Kate showed any sign of connection but once realized the result overwhelmed everyone, particularly Dr. Miller. “In this particular case, I don’t know that she would have found this freeing of emotions without these artistic workshops. There is a sense of fulfillment that is almost never experienced by children with Down syndrome. They are looking for a sense of accomplishment and you gave that to her! This has released an ability that she never knew she had. She was screeching with joy!” Our second workshop was with drummer SCOTTY LUND, a freelance musician. "I could see that Kate completely lit up as soon as I walked into the room. She was such a joy to be around." Scotty gave Kate shakers and he began playing on his Cajon. (The Cajon is a wooden box made with light plywood with a hole in the side that produces a deep tone when one side is hit.) "She played along in perfect time with me." Kate went on to play the Bongos and Tambourine. "Kate is so much fun to be with. She was consistently laughing and smiling. I look forward to continuing our lessons and helping her develop her musical abilities. She is truly a natural talent." "The results have been phenomenal", says Dr. Miller. We look forward to connecting more talented artists with Kate and will let you know about her progress. (** Due to confidentiality reasons we have changed the child's name to protect her identity.)

"I consider myself very lucky to have met Jennifer Howell. She is one of those people we all aspire to be - selfless, giving and brave. The kind of person who sees all of the red tape and bureaucracy we know can be an obstacle and puts change in place. By starting The Art of Elysium, a bare to the bones, no fat, well run, organization - she has been able to effect real change. It can be disheartening when you take your time as a celebrity to help to do a fundraiser and find that virtually no money was raised because the overhead is so outrageous. Going to an Art of Elysium event is a beautiful experience-- from meeting the vendors who are donating their goods, to hearing at the end of the night how much money was really raised. But that is before you meet the kids and the doctors and the parents! Meeting the girls with the cranial facial disfigurements, talking to them about the changes that had happened for them in their therapy and watching them do their graduation fashion show was so beautiful. To see these girls who because of peoples' cruelty had grown long hair to hide their faces, who stood with slumped shoulders trying to be unnoticed now walk in the Fashion Show with pride, poise and exuberant personalities was like watching flowers opening to the sun. I was also lucky enough to go to the gingerbread house- making workshop at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. It was great to see these kids and their siblings (who had been through difficult family times spending days and days in waiting rooms while your sibling has multiple operations) with beautiful smiles and happy excitement making gingerbread houses. Their parents looking on were so gracious and so grateful to see their children having an afternoon of fun, creative child play together. I feel lucky to have been a part of these events, and look forward to being more involved in The Art of Elysium. Patricia Arquette - Actress"