Painting Their Way Out: Profiles of Adolescent Art Practice at the Harlem Hospital Horizon Art Studio.

This article addresses a need of increasing importance: adolescents with disabilities have few opportunities to come to terms with illness and the isolation it often brings. This need is particularly urgent for children in America's inner cities, where poverty and lack of resources further exacerbates illness and isolation. The article describes how the Harlem Horizon Art Studio (HHAS) addresses these needs with an approach to painting with young people that falls between art education and art therapy. The purpose of this article is to help art educators reach this population more effectively by examining how adolescents find solutions to both artistic and physical problems with minimal intervention. Two case studies are offered as examples of what youngsters at HHAS experience as significant change as they challenge their daily obstacles by making art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]