Finding yourself through creativity: Creative educations has brought together a group of people with disabilities.

(AV17) gallery, consistently pursuing its goal of promoting accessibility and education in the arts, involves an increasingly wider audience in its creative activities every year – from young people in Lithuanian regions to adults and children facing challenges of social and cultural exclusion. This autumn, the gallery paid special attention to people with disabilities, inviting six institutions from Kaunas and Vilnius to participate in educational activities.

In October 2025, disabled communities in these cities were invited to participate in a creative learning cycle: “Workshop series: (re)gaining creative power.” This year’s activities, aimed at strengthening artistic self-expression and emotional and psychological well-being, took place at the Markučiai Day Activity Center, the Valakampiai Social Services Home, the Pal. J. Matulaitis Social Center “Open Community,” St. Rokas School, the Korys Center, and the Akvila Social Therapy Home.

The workshops were led by experienced visual artists and art therapists who work with people with various disabilities. Participants, including young people (aged 16-29) and adults (aged 18-60), were introduced to the techniques of sculpture, object, installation, photography, performance, graphics, and painting. In order to encourage participants to continue the activities independently in the future, special attention was paid to the “ready-made” principle, using existing objects and secondary raw materials in the creative process.

In photographer Aurelija Maknytė’s workshop, participants created photographic narratives from objects reminiscent of memories, graphic artist Paulė Vaitkutė introduced them to the technique of wood carving, and artists Agnė Jonkutė, Neringa Šilenskienė, Austė Jurgelionytė-Varnė, and Julija Vosyliūtė encouraged artistic expression through various creative techniques, strengthening emotional and psychological well-being, self-reflection, creative confidence, and a sense of community.

Teacher Gražvyda from St. Rokas School in Kaunas pointed out the therapeutic effect: “All the activities were interesting and beneficial to the well-being of our community. I never thought that creativity could bring so much positivity. Personally, I liked the photograms – an intriguing process of waiting for the result, and our student Rokas liked the graphics and was surprised to learn that you can create pictures on paper using a spoon.”

The project was funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.