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The Art Room is a charity aimed at 5 - 16 year olds who are experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties. There are currently six Art Rooms in schools in Oxford and London, offering art as therapy to increase children’s self-esteem, self-confidence and independence.

Many of the children who come to The Art Room are disengaged from mainstream education, disruptive or withdrawn and all have been identified as needing special time away from their classrooms. The problems students might have include experiencing numerous educational interruptions or having specific learning difficulties or autism spectrum disorders. Some have recently arrived in this country, others are prime carers within their family, or are ‘looked-after’ children in the care system. Some might just need a respite from the pressures of mainstream education.

The Art Room has demonstrated that in a caring and creative environment the most challenging children can ‘learn and achieve through art’. 

The methodology of The Art Room goes above and beyond using art as a vehicle for therapy. The emphasis is also on teaching life skills, incorporating the National Curriculum, assisting emotional literacy and using the power of art to help the children and young people engage positively in their daily lives.

The main aims of the methodology are:

• To give each child a sense of their own worth and capability
• To create a nurturing, safe and creative atmosphere
• To encourage positive language, social literacy and emotional support
• To provide a structured experience that can contain students at the same time as allowing them to explore their own choices and decisions
• To help the children negotiate situations where they have gone ’off task’ or are finding it difficult to manage mainstream education and avoid exclusion