The Claude Pepper Center brings Opening Minds Through Art (OMA) to Tallahassee, FL.
“OMA builds bridges across age and cognitive barriers through art.”OMA is an award-winning, failure-free, intergenerational art-making program for people living with dementia. The program was originally developed by gerontologists at Scripps Gerontology Center (Miami University). OMA promotes autonomy and dignity, by providing opportunities for creative self-expression and social engagement for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
During the course of the program, student interns are trained by an OMA facilitator to learn about dementia, effective communication, and creative facilitation skills. The student interns, as creative facilitators, are paired with an older adult living with dementia (artists), and form close, one-on-one relationships with them. At the end of the program, an art exhibition will be held to celebrate the artist’s accomplishments and beautiful artwork, as well as spread awareness of memory care diseases to the community.
Research shows the following benefits to,
People living with dementia:
- Compared to other activities, OMA provides:
- More expressions of pleasure,
- Greater engagement,
- Better overall well-being
Student Interns
- Increased positive attitudes and comfort level towards people living with dementia,
- Increased affection, enthusiasm, and sense of kinship toward people living with dementia.
Click here to visit our OMA Gallery.
To learn more about the creation, method, and philosophy of OMA, visit: https://scrippsoma.org/
To discover more about the Scripps OMA program, watch: https://youtu.be/BWBXLc8eMPQ
Student Interns needed! (Spring 2023)
