Children paint, fold, and construct colorful, three-dimensional fish while exploring sculpture, symmetry, and movement. Each finished artwork celebrates imagination, creativity, and the confidence that grows from completing something with their own hands in a supportive community
2,000+ People Served Annually
50+ Workshops
Per Year
80%+ Improved Well-Being
67%+ Reduced Isolation
Children paint, fold, and construct colorful, three-dimensional fish while exploring sculpture, design, color, movement, creativity, and problem-solving through engaging, hands-on art experiences.
Students encourage one another while creating, sharing ideas, solving challenges, and celebrating every completed artwork in a joyful environment filled with friendship and discovery.
Each finished fish celebrates imagination, perseverance, and accomplishment. Children leave with greater confidence, new friendships, creative skills, and the belief that their ideas truly matter.
Swimming Colors offers more than an afternoon of making art. It gives children an opportunity to experience success, laughter, and encouragement in a caring community. As they paint, fold, and build colorful fish, they discover creativity, problem-solving, and confidence. Many return each week eager to learn, create, and spend time with trusted adults and friends. Every finished fish becomes a reminder that each child has unique gifts, endless potential, and a bright future worth believing in.
Sometimes she worries about her family. But after school, she goes to church, where they make art, laugh, and listen to stories. She made a colorful fish that made her smile. For one afternoon, she forgot about the hard things. She just got to be a kid with her friends.
Healing in Arts partners with an after-school program in Fresno, California, reaching out to children from underserved communities, including many from migrant farmworker families. Through hands-on art, storytelling, and creative exploration in a church setting, children build confidence, strengthen friendships, express their imagination, and experience the joy of learning, belonging, and being celebrated.
The group project turned out to be a masterpiece—a little bit of all of us.
This colorful fish workshop is one example of Healing in Arts kids programming, where children in Grand Rapids and beyond explore creativity, storytelling, friendship, confidence, imagination, and joy together.
Children of different abilities each painted a four inch artwork, and together they became one piece now on display at Fresno City Hall.
A girl who did not want to take part watched from the sidelines, then asked four words that changed the afternoon.
Teens wrote down what they wanted to let go of, attached the notes to wreaths, and watched Lake Michigan carry them away.
Helping Teens’ Hopes and Dreams Soar Healing in Arts spearheaded the Butterfly Dreams project in collaboration with Young Life. The art workshop took place in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and left an indelible mark on a group of teenagers. Under the guidance of board member Kathy Pluymert, the art centered on the theme of …
Between Two Worlds: A Healing in Arts Project with Refugee Children
Healing in Arts was featured in WOOD TV News 8 coverage of ArtPrize 2026. Watch the segment below.