PROGRAMS
CREATING & INSPIRING
Beyond teaching art techniques and supplying craft materials, we offer safe creative space for individuals to learn and express themselves.
Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an evidence-based, intergenerational, abstract art-making program designed to be failure-free for adults at every stage of aging, but especially those living with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia.
OMA integrates the critical elements of well-being: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaningfulness, & Accomplishment (Seligman). The best-practice program empowers people to make independent, creative choices within a supportive relationship. The art projects are complex yet easy to do, producing unique, sophisticated results every time.
Now flourishing in long-term care settings across Virginia, OMA is bringing together artists and non-artists, those with and without dementia, into a community of equals where “anything is possible,” as one resident said. The one-on-one partnerships create positive spaces for a younger generation to engage with the older, and the special bonds that form are often transformative for both.
"Oma" means grandmother in both Dutch and Indonesian, and it's the grandparent relationship that first inspired the name for the program.
OMA was developed by gerontologist researcher Dr. Elizabeth Lokon at Scripps Gerontology Center - Miami University-Ohio. Since 2007, OMA has reached Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Spain, and the mainland U.S..
To learn more about OMA's origin, visit: https://www.scrippsoma.org.
Art for the Journey is one of four OMA Facilitator Training sites worldwide.
For more information about training and certification, visit OMA Facilitator Training.
For people living with dementia caused by Alzheimer's Disease or other diseases, self-expression can be severely limited. OMA is an innovative non-pharmacological intervention that pairs a young volunteer with an older adult living with dementia. In this one-on-one format, the pair follows a structured process for creating original abstract art. Each "Artist" finds a way to express themselves in this supportive and empowering social setting, allowing them to “come out from behind” their disease. Week after week of spending time creating within this positive relationship, the cognitive, social, and mood improvement is measurable.
The artists are invited to to title their artwork, lending interpretation and insight to their work. The artwork that is exhibited at a celebratory reception at the end of each program cycle, where families, caregivers, staff and community members can witness the accomplishment and capabilities of people who perhaps haven't expressed themselves in years.
To explore OMA's research base, visit: https://www.scrippsoma.org.
"It's given me so much joy and comfort. I'm honoring my Nana and providing myself with spiritual healing."
Caitlin, student volunteer
To learn more about the genesis and research behind the OMA program, visit https://www.scrippsoma.org.
This program is funded by individual and corporate gifts, the Nunnally Foundation, and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.
