Creating AWE

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Growing up with ADHD posed many struggles with learning and completing mundane tasks daily. To overcome these obstacles, I found creative outlets to better understand my own thoughts. Doodling was the main tool I used to focus my attention.

Through research, I learned that this wasn’t actually an uncommon thing. Studies showed that doodling while taking in information could allow for up to 29% more information retention. It provides stress relief, anxiety reduction, and increases overall creative thinking.

Art Therapists discovered the benefits of creative outlets for mental health and wellness long before I did. To better understand how creative outlets could be used in that context, I met with University of Tampa Art Therapy Professor Joe Scarce. Professor Scarce helped me understand the difference between art therapy and therapeutic art practices. Art Therapy is used to achieve a diagnosis, while therapeutic art practices are used as an outlet to process emotions. This aided in guiding my research and provided a better understanding of my project's direction.

I learned more about these practices in my research; the most intriguing of which was Neurographic Art. Neurographic Art is a guided art practice that is used to process difficult emotions and stress through a set of provided instructions. This inspired me to use prompts to guide the AWE event later on.

Although many people with ADHD could benefit, I decided not to limit my concept to one group. Instead, I wanted to address the wider population struggling with mental health and wellness. This broader focus required me to reflect on how activities like doodling provide benefits. 

This led me to understand it as a creative outlet and the creative and critical thinking benefits that it could provide. Even more than this, it functioned as a form of stress relief that was accessible from virtually anywhere one could find a pen and paper. Introducing these to a population that may not have been exposed to them prior could be beneficial to all kinds of people. This is where I decided to focus my project on how creative outlets can be beneficial to mental health and wellness in a way that was accessible to all.

From here, I discovered collaborative murals and The American Mural Project (AMP). AMP is an organization that facilitates collaborative murals all over the country, each project with its own unique purpose and meaning. I had more than enough inspiration and information to facilitate my own. 

Initially, the concept started out as a personal initiative that would then be shared as a campaign. I would fill a large canvas with my own doodles to express myself and display it in hopes of inspiring others to do the same and attempt to discover creative outlets on their own. I parted ways with this initial concept because it would most likely only access the art world, an audience that has had a lot of prior exposure to creative outlets. The impact would be minimal. I then tossed around the Idea of a doodling workbook with drawing prompts that would aid in practicing creative outlets for mental wellness. However, this idea seemed flawed in the sense that the only people who would purchase such a book would already have some kind of exposure or understanding of how creative outlets could be beneficial. I needed to expose those who had not previously shown any interest or even knowledge of the benefits of creative outlets. I needed guerrilla tactics.
This is where I came upon the idea of a collaborative public mural with community outreach strategies so that I could reach people who previously had no knowledge or exposure to this kind of outlet.  It would be placed in a public high-traffic area and stick out like a sore thumb of sorts to attempt to grab the attention of any potential participants.

I developed this concept into what I called The Art Wellness Exchange, or AWE. It was a collaborative doodling event arranged around prompts that would guide the participants through their exploration of creative outlets and the benefits they could provide. I had never arranged such an event before and discovered I would need assistance from someone who did. I pitched AWE to Live Well UT, an on-campus organization focused on promoting wellness amongst the student body, which then helped me with getting the event set up and executed.
I built a concept for a non-profit that would put together starter kits that would allow anyone to facilitate an AWE event and spread the message that I’ve been attempting to send. I then built the actual 4-foot by 8-foot canvas that would be used for participants to express themselves. As well as 83 prompt cards to guide the participants in their exploration of creative outlets. The event itself was held on April 17th and was a massive success with over 50 participants leaving their marks in a 2-hour span.