Art is therapy for children who have autism. When we make a picture it is a communicative act, we anticipate and hope that the viewer, whether this is the child’s mother or artist’s public, will understand something about what has been depicted when they view image. The creative art, necessary in the making of art, is itself an act of imagination. It involves the translation of an internal image in the mind into a tangible form on the sheet of paper.
Art is a fundamental level, a form of communication and the development. Pictures are regarded as objects with communicative value that do not rely on words, a form of therapy based on art help people who have difficulties with language to communicate. Art therapy is skilled in understanding not only the surface meaning of an picture of image, its manifest content, but also feelings, thoughts and ideas that underlie or are below the conscious surface of the picture. The expression of emotion through the communication of art can be seen as offering the opportunity for the regulation and healing of personal emotional experience. In Drawing Sylvia, Sylvia communicates with colors and shapes as the artist herself. Her drawing shows a range of experience and people can see through her unique colors and shapes. She translates her emotions and feelings into colorful abstract or detailed drawings as a way how she sees the world around her.
Many children with autism develop language have difficulties but they have shown a remarkable ability and talent in their drawing. And this drawing method becomes their window to look outside the world. I often sat down close to Sylvia while she drew, she didn’t talk much, but she seemed to enjoy art drawing very much, she was engrossed in the activity, pausing from time to time from her drawing to utter one or two words, usually describing what she was drawing. This situation made me very aware that they do talk and they do want to express themselves.
Art is a diminishing of anxiety and distress, allowing for the gradual development of the therapeutic relationship. Art like symbols have a great potential for the alleviation of anxiety, they allow them to hold onto something of importance. In Sylvia’s case, her art of colors, characters and shapes exhibit an emotional relationship with what she was drawing; she sees people’s emotions as colors and shapes. Reflection on the progression of her engagement in drawing, she built up herself how she can get comfortable and stay calm. She expressed her experience in our world from her perspective.