Picasso never thought of using marbles to create a masterpiece, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Whether there’s a paintbrush involved or not, art is one of those rare acts that cannot be pigeonholed into a category, method, or use – it’s as varied, subjective, and imaginative as the individual creating it. This specific form of Art Therapy – marble painting – is especially liberating and beneficial for multiple reasons.

When people think of adaptive therapy, the tendency is to think of a physical adaption based on a client’s physical abilities – but there is another aspect that often goes ignored, which is the emotional component of Art Therapy. Think about it – how often do we feel overwhelmed, or filled with self-doubt, when staring at that blank canvas or blank piece of paper when starting a new project? On top of that, many of our DDD clients love to create art but become anxious at the idea of getting messy (we know a few Type-A people who can relate to that). To address those challenges, Stephanie – one of our resident Art Therapists – uses marble painting therapy to target both the physical and emotional obstacles of the clients. This is where the beauty of marble painting shines.

I dream of painting, and then I paint my dream.

Vincent Van Gogh

By taping a watercolor paper to the bottom of a box, the marbles and paint remain contained within a specific area (Stephanie tries to recycle the tops of copy paper boxes for this). The clients then choose from a variety of paint colors, apply dots of paint on the watercolor page, and then let loose six to eight marbles and begin to tilt the marbles all around the box. Just like magic – or, in this case, art in motion – the messiness is contained and the anxiety disappears, leaving only fun, creative play that becomes a colorful masterpiece. As they tilt the box with the marbles, the paint begins to stream in every direction and mix with every color, forming a unique and naturally occurring pattern.

Most of our clients have the ability to tilt the box themselves without any assistance. For clients in wheelchairs with limited range of motion, Stephanie sets up an adaptable lap desk that sits on their wheelchair arms; this places the box right in front of the client, making the therapy more accessible for their movements. Keeping with the theme of adapting, not all of our client creations take place only in our TRU space. For many reasons, it’s not always easy to get a large group of clients into TRU for a group art session – so, we bring the TRU to them. For these marble paintings, Stephanie went to visit the DDD Purple Room during their scheduled art therapy hour, bringing the boxes, marbles, and paint with her.

The pride that comes from completing a work of art cannot be overstated. And some might argue that the best part of creating art is putting it on display for the world to see – that’s why outside of every DDD room is a large bulletin board for the clients to display their completed projects in the hallways (although, many of the clients choose to take them home to hang on their bedroom walls). Stephanie has a clear goal for her art therapy sessions: “As an art therapist, I am always trying to target the goals of independence, confidence, advocacy, and self-awareness. I believe everyone is creative and it’s up to me to help show them where their creativity lies!” In the spirit of marbles, we can roll with that.