Bringing Art to Life Research to be Presented at AAN Meeting

Sunday, April 3rd, 2022

Bringing Art to Life-Chicago Opens with New Innovations

Friday, July 30th, 2021

Bringing Art to Life-Chicago (BATL-C), Cognitive Dynamics Foundation’s intergenerational expressive arts program for persons living with dementia and student partners, re-opened in July for the first time since the pandemic began. Again partnering with Chicago Methodist Senior Services, the program pairs residents who are living with dementia with student volunteers; this semester, we are working with students from Loyola University.

During the didactic portion of the class, students learn the neuroscience of Alzheimer’s and other dementias from Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, BATL-C lead faculty and Rush University neurologist, and BATL-C founder, Daniel C. Potts, MD, FAAN lectures about person-centered care, memory and the use of the expressive arts in dementia care.  Students experience virtual reality modules from Embodied Labs, which help to create empathic understanding for the lived experience of dementia and caregiving.

A new innovation this semester is a virtual museum experience in partnership with the Yale University Art Gallery, facilitated by their museum staff, with art directives to follow facilitated by art therapist, Angel C. Duncan, MA, MFT-ATR, Executive Arts Director of Cognitive Dynamics Foundation, who also lectures to the students about art therapy.

Students and their dementia partners will spend time in a sensory garden at CMSS, created in our last iteration of BATL-C, and some of the herbs will find their way into a meal for the program’s final celebratory dinner at the end of the semester.

BATL-C is made possible in part by a grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. Research shows the program increases empathy in student participants and improves attitudes toward older adults and persons living with dementia. 

Bringing Art to Life Chicago Innovations

Saturday, July 27th, 2019

Bringing Art to Life – Chicago, a service – learning program for high school students in the Chicago, IL area, engages students and persons living with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia in art and other expressive arts therapies, reminiscence and life story-sharing. Students form multicultural, intergenerational relationships with their dementia partners, and participate in comprehensive educational sessions about dementia, including appropriate methods of interacting with persons living with dementia, etc.

Bringing Art to Life – Chicago is a collaboration between Cognitive Dynamics Foundation and Chicago Methodist Senior Services, and has received support from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and High Socks for Hope Foundation. Medical students from Rush University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois serve as facilitators of the program. Through the technology of Embodied Labs, students have virtual reality experiences living with dementia as part of their training.

During this summer’s session of Bringing Art to Life – Chicago, our high school student participants and their partners living with dementia are exploring the wonders of nature together as they plant and enjoy a sensory garden at Chicago Methodist Senior Services. The sensory garden complements the experience they are having together in art therapy, and the developing relationships help to combat stigma and build empathy.

The photos below were taken on 7-27-2019 at the sensory garden.

To learn more about Bringing Art to Life, check this link: https://www.cognitivedynamics.org/bringing-art-to-life/