Healing HeARTs Program at Nemours Children’s Hospital

In partnership with the Creative Arts Therapy department at Nemours Children’s Hospital, this program provides monthly art sessions within the hospital where young patients and their caregivers can engage in various art forms to express themselves and alleviate stress. The program also provides art kits to children confined to their beds, containing materials for simple art projects to keep them engaged and spark creativity during their recovery. 

More About Healing HeARTs

Healing HeARTs is a hospital-based arts and wellness program designed to support the emotional and psychosocial well-being of pediatric patients and caregivers through creative engagement.

At the heart of the program are monthly “art parties” held in the Nemours hospital atrium, a welcoming communal space transformed into a vibrant environment for creativity and connection. During these 90-minute sessions, pediatric patients and family members participate in open-ended visual arts activities facilitated by trained teaching artists working alongside the hospital art therapist and Child Life specialists.

Activities emphasize process over product, encouraging participants to explore materials freely, make creative choices, and engage in self-expression without pressure or expectation. Children experiment with painting, collage, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and mixed media techniques while caregivers and siblings often participate alongside them.

The program intentionally creates opportunities for joy, play, emotional release, and family connection within an environment often dominated by fear, uncertainty, and medical stress.

Healing HeARTs also serves children who are unable to attend group sessions through individualized bedside art kits. These kits provide accessible creative opportunities for room-bound or isolated patients, ensuring that arts engagement remains available regardless of medical circumstance.

Recognizing the unique developmental and emotional needs of adolescents, ArtReach Orlando also launched a specialized teen program at Nemours for youth ages 14 and older. The program provides opportunities for peer connection, self-expression, autonomy, and relationship-building among teens navigating long-term hospitalization and treatment.

This program is made possible through the generosity of The Pabst Steinmetz Foundation.