Thanks to a comment by Julia on my post earlier this month, I purchased the DVD “I Remember Better When I Paint” and watched it this past weekend with my soon-to-be 20-year old son. The documentary is a little over an hour and a half, yet the time flew by as we watched interviews with health care professionals and viewed footage of art therapy in action. The film highlights some specific programs and contains seven additional shorts that complement the documentary: Recreating Social Bonds, The Importance of Physical Exercise, The Hearthstone Way, Art and Care in the Later Stages, Organizing an Outing, The Memory Garden, and Organizing a Creative Workshop.
I cannot stress enough the importance of sharing this information with anyone you know who is associated in any way with someone who has Alzheimer’s. As John Zeisel’s book title so aptly states, I’m Still Here – and that is why it is of paramount importance to inform families and caretakers about the various approaches and art therapies that can help people with Alzheimer’s let their loved ones know they are, indeed, still here.
Zeisel is responsible for ARTZ is Artists for Alzheimer’s, a wonderful program that opens the world of artistic expression to people with Alzheimer’s. I first learned of ARTZ (and blogged about it) in June, 2009, while attending a Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity conference. A few days later I finished reading Zeisel’s book and wrote another blog post.
One of the video shorts of particular interest is The Memory Garden (Les Jardins de la Memoire), which describes a residence in a suburb of Brussels, Belgium, for people who have Alzheimer’s. If you do not read French, thanks to Google Translate you can read an English description about Les Jardins de la Memoire. The DVD introduces The Memory Garden with extensive footage, and interviews with two therapists, as well as with Christian Englebert, the founder.
Neurons Firing 