Our mission is to provide therapeutic arts to Youth & communities with the least amount of social services, after school and summer activities available.

Affordable

All projects aim to inspire art-making with simple materials. If someone does not have access to supplies, we find a way to provide some!

Reliable

We use a community-based group setting with a co-leader approach to model co-parenting and offer a wider range of artistic skill sets and opportunities to:

Therapeutic

Certified Art Therapists, Jamie & Bailey, plan and facilitate programs with the "artist within," clinical experiences, and vast knowledge of Art Therapy's techniques.

Community Partner Programs

CPPs may be on a one-time or ongoing basis, depending on the hiring organization who pays a fee-for-service cost for the program. ArtVan works with all populations, agencies, and organizations to support specific needs and requests.

Lewiston Public Schools
River ValleyVillage
Horizon Program
The Center of Wisdom’s Women
Youth Leaderships Advisory Team (YLAT)

Core
Neighborhoods

Since 2004, ArtVan has provided Art Therapy programs to under-resourced neighborhoods, free-of-charge, due to numerous grants and steady support from individuals donors and foundational grants.

Maritime Apartments, Bath
Hyde Park, Bath
Perryman Village, Brunswick
Lewiston Public Library
Tree Street Neighborhood, Lewiston
Bacon Street, Biddeford
Family Development, Auburn
Broadview Acres, Auburn

Art offers a way to channel feelings safely adjust to new relationships solve problems creatively feel a sense of belonging

For deeper, therapeutic interventions, ArtVan’s unique co-facilitation model allows one Art Therapist to focus on emotional space and the other Therapist on the product, prompting insight into sensitive material.

When a Youth laughed at her own drawing, the Teaching Artist invited the Art Therapist to help them explore the disconnect of effect (humor) and subject matter (suicide). Together they supported the Youth’s artistic expression, technique, and difficult feelings that she may have been unable to express without Art as the conduit.

ArtVan is not just about the art. We also build trust, create supportive relationships, and encourage healthy risk-taking behavior.

I can draw and paint whatever I feel, because when I try to explain it, no one gets it.

ArtVan is an amazing nonprofit that gifts Youth the opportunity for connection, solace, and healing through art. A very important gift especially during such unprecedented times!

The Onion Foundation
Sam L. Cohen Foundation
Maine Women’s Fund
Davenport Trust
Jane B. Cook 1992 Charitable Trust
The Aldermere Foundation
Alfred M. Senter Fund
Bowdoin Common Good Grant
First Parish Church, Brunswick
Baldwin Foundation
Maine Community Foundation: Community Development Block Grant
The Davis Foundation