Thinking through your hands
IMAGES OF HANDS MAKING
Introduction
MindArt began in 2018 and has since conducted multiple clinical trials in Aotearoa New Zealand and France. We have successfully implemented the programme across diverse settings in both countries. With each delivery, MindArt researchers and communities worked together to adapt and refine the programme, bringing the MindArt experience we share with you today.
This section reflects where MindArt's founder, Associate Professor Emma Febvre-Richards' inspiration originated. We'll explain the principles, approaches, and structures that shape the MindArt sessions.
Importantly, this isn't simply about the founder explaining her vision, as it is essential for us that the following sections capture how our community developed the MindArt programme together—which is why you'll find a rich variety of voices and perspectives: testimony from contributors (facilitators, participants, and supporters), core principles and structures, practical approaches, as well as responses to questions we commonly encounter. We invite you to spend time with this material, to sit with it, and discover the potential that MindArt holds for your professional environments and for coming directly into the homes of people living with neurological conditions and their supporters.
Where does MindArt come from? The MindArt Founder explains.
Two user groups:
health professionals and individuals.
We have divided our specifically designed programme into 2 user groups: the full programme for health professionals and specific MindArt resources from the programme for individuals at home.
1. The MindArt Programme
MindArt is a clinically proven, fail-safe eight-week programme offering 1.5-hour sessions that combine the therapeutic benefits of nature, sensory engagement, and meditative drawing techniques. Through accessible, step-by-step guidance, people with neurological conditions and their supporters explore mindful, nature-inspired drawing exercises using repetitive gestures in a supportive, non-judgmental environment to promote satisfaction, relaxation, and focus.
The programme is delivered by certified MindArt facilitators who are health professionals. Please refer to the ‘For Professionals’ page.
2. Resources for the home
For individuals at home, we have developed a collection of resources sourced from the MindArt programme that can be used independently to support personal well-being, reduce stress, and foster connection through a gentle, creative journey. These include:
· A specialized MindArt digital drawing application with taonga pūoro soundtracks
· 30 curated MindArt drawing surfaces inspired by nature and everyday textures
· Immersive MindArt soundscapes designed for drawing sessions
· Easy, accessible seated movement and relaxation videos
· Helpful video guides showing you how to make the most of each resource
The 10 Principles of MindArt
1) Nature as context to provide a resource-rich foundation that explores the importance of natural environments to cognitive wellbeing.
2) Utilising all or precise senses to increase engagement and communication levels.
3) Repetition to help us to ‘slow down’, encourage fine motor skills and to become a form of meditation.
4) Familiar actions and skills to engage ‘body memory’, assist recognition and maintain fine motor skills for as long as possible.
5) Awareness of ‘Graphic Indicators’ of neurological conditions in the design of the programme
6) Creating ‘beauty’ through strategies of colour, texture, organisation, and materiality to increase levels of satisfaction, while remembering that ‘beauty’ is subjective and diverse.
7) Versatile outcomes for each activity to value individuality and avoid frustration.
8) Drawing as a form of communication with a unique ability to communicate across borders and be culturally inclusive.
9) Providing a new opportunity for positive sharing between the person living with neurological conditions and their supporter, emphasising drawing’s ability to reveal, create discussion and give new understanding.
10) Valuing the work done.
How a MindArt Session Unfolds
Paper unfolding…logo…story…brain
IMAGE OF SOMETHING EMMA!
This specialized programme unfolds through progressive stages, beginning with building community through welcome and guided relaxation techniques, followed by immersion in nature-based contexts—ranging from beach scenes to autumn landscapes to cloud gazing. Participants then move into different types of drawing that encourage sensorial material interaction and relaxing repetitive gestures while being surrounded by our tailored MindArt soundscapes. Once complete, participants share their creations on a communal mural before transitioning to digital drawing. Sessions close with feedback, relaxation techniques, and take-home resources including the MindArt digital drawing app and drawing kit.
The timing of each activity is vital—carefully structured to remove the worry of forgetting, build confidence, and nurture a safe environment for creative experimentation and sharing. Throughout, these processes and stages offer satisfying, fail-safe, and mindful approaches to 'thinking through your hands,' celebrating and reconnecting individuals with their creativity, responsive decision-making, and memories.
Two Groups
Each MindArt session divides participants into two groups in separate rooms: one for people living with neurological conditions and one for their supporters—whether family members, partners, friends, or professional caregivers. Though physically apart, both groups experience the exact same programme, benefiting from reduced stress and anxiety, enhanced focus through 'drawing as thinking', and leaving behind the weight of daily challenges.
When the session concludes, pairs reunite to share their creations and experiences. These moments of joy and revelation often spark discoveries: "I never knew you could do that/ thought like that!" Such exchanges foster pride, deeper understanding, and connection for everyone involved.
The benefits frequently extend well beyond the session itself. Participants continue conversations about their work on the journey home, enjoy lunch out together afterward (sessions typically run in the morning), or simply experience a more positive atmosphere at home. As one participant noted, they feel "relaxed for the rest of the day"—when both members of a pair feel better, daily challenges become easier to navigate together.
Can you run just one group?
Yes, you can run a group exclusively for people living with neurological conditions or exclusively for supporters. The ideal group size is 8 participants, as this allows the facilitator and assistant to follow the group closely and provide individual support when needed, while maintaining the energy and benefits of a group activity. Participants benefit from watching others create, drawing inspiration from one another, and enjoying a social environment. Groups smaller than 4 people tend to lose this collective energy.
We don't recommend combining people living with neurological conditions and supporters in the same group and room, as this would diminish the benefit of having 'time for yourself' and the sense of independence that comes with it.
It's important to remember that MindArt is designed for early to mid-stage neurological conditions. For more advanced stages, one-on-one interaction or smaller groups may be more appropriate. While minor adaptations for different abilities are acceptable, the MindArt programme's structure is carefully designed so that activities build upon each other. Major modifications to this structure would compromise the programme's integrity and mean it is no longer truly 'MindArt'.
Do I need to know how to draw?
‘Being in the moment’
People with neurological conditions are often very good at 'being in the moment.' MindArt works with this natural ability and helps expand it for everyone