Maria's Children, Arts Rehabilitation Center, Moscow

Maria’s Children was founded in 1993 by Maria Yeliseyeva, an artist who began working with just twelve students from a single Moscow orphanage. Today there are over 300 students in the Maria's Children program from ten Moscow orphanages, including children with cerebral palsy and other special needs. The central focus of the program lies in art therapy, offering students an atmosphere in which they can develop talents and self-esteem that will serve them in later life. The studio is a loving, safe haven of warmth and acceptance, providing the children with a family-like setting to compensate for the harshness of the institutions in which they live. The program helps to prepare orphans for independent life and to adapt to social needs, noticeably improving their psychological and emotional well-being.

Not only do these children acquire various skills in this studio, but they also learn empathy, responsibility and the value of service to others. Throughout the year, children help as volunteers by working in a "Baby House," (an orphanage for babies from birth to four years of age), in the first children's cancer hospice, and in various NGO's, which provide assistance to the disabled and special needs children. They go on trips to orphanages and children's hospitals in and around Moscow to perform as clowns for their little patients.

 

Click on the images to enlarge

Not only do these children acquire various skills in this studio, they also learn empathy, responsibility and the value of service to others. Throughout the year, children help as volunteers by working in a "Baby House," in the first children's cancer hospice, and in various NGO's and government organizations which provide assistance to the disabled and special needs children. They go on trips to orphanages and children's hospitals in and around Moscow to perform as clowns for their little patients. They contribute to the institutions by painting beautiful, collaborative landscape murals, which bring color and personality to the bleak walls. During the trips to outlying areas, the children learn the history and culture of other cities as they draw from nature.

In addition to this creative work, other special programs are presented to the children, including a program on social adaptation for older teens. The purpose of this program is to help them integrate into society. Many older orphans have also been encouraged to continue their education in the profession of their choice and are helped in finding work and settling down in a normal life.