In the beginning it was asked why we choose art? In the beginning we considered other self employment vocational skills. Trades of carpentry, plumbing, electrical and painting were considered. Lawn and landscaping skills were looked at. Janitorial service skills were suggested. Computer hardware repair and computer skills like graphics’ design, web site building, and computer programming skills were seen as employment skills worth learning. They were all rejected in favor of art. For our program we saw the need to reach further than just vocational skills. It was about employment skills and even employment skills allowing self sufficiency. But it also was about healing a damaged soul. It was about students finding their self-worth and building self esteem.

Combining the benefits of art therapy with the benefits of being an artist. The benefit of art as therapy. It helps the student find their ability to express themselves and in doing so they feel better about themselves. It helps them realize they are more than the sum total of their failures. Until they have no confidence in finding a better tomorrow.

All art provides a degree of therapeutic benefit for the artist. But it must never be only that. A work of art has to end up as an experience, an extraordinary event on the stage. Everyone has the need to "express" themselves. After "expressing themselves they feel better. It may even have a certain quality, a mood, a "something". It is more therapy than art because its final impact is greater upon the person who has put it together than upon the recipient.