Art Therapy part 2

In the following, you will not read about the details and the way of art therapy. You have read some small personal stories here. Stories of people with autism and Down Syndrome. But like you and me, they have dreams and aspirations.

The story began at the end of the lighting and photography course. With the beginning of the theater training courses, I held an acting test session under this pretext, and at the same time, the exam day was the end of the photography course. Participants were supposed to take pictures of each other using lighting equipment, but they had to take a picture of a character of their choice in front of the camera.

Mehdi was the first to go in front of the camera; He wore a formal suit and wanted to play the role of Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran. Yes, he always talked to himself or in public about him or repeated his speeches. Most of the time, when he had a mental attack, he completely immersed himself in Ahmadinejad's character and was no longer the Mahdi.

Mehdi was fascinated by the news and, like the entire middle and less educated class of Iran, talked about politics in every society with only one difference,

and that was that he was so fascinated that he lived in the world of news. He sympathized with and lived with former President Ahmadinejad

At the end of the class, Mehdi was able to perform a radio show in which he played the role of an environmentalist. He also starred in a theater play and a short film.

On the last day of the theater rent, he told me behind the scenes:

I proved that I succeeded. My father can no longer tell me that I am worthless

Another friend of mine who attended the classes was Zeinab.

She, who was always withdrawn and afraid to ask questions and loved to walk, was the second person to go in front of the camera, contrary to expectations. Fascinated by Ms. Alam, she decided to play her role in front of the camera.

At the end of the course, she was able to learn the skills of starting life and using the subway, and with the permission of her parents, she could go out alone for a limited number of hours.

One day at the end of one of the touring theories she told me that she and all the participants in the classes do not have a bank account and can not buy what they like independently. From that day on, I did my best to legally obtain a bank card for them. Unfortunately, the law and the families closed all possible doors.

We say in Persian: searcher; Is a finder

With the help of the head of one of the branches of Bank Melli Iran and with the coordination of the parents of the participants, I was able to prepare a gift card for them that worked exactly like a bank card. And it was charged every week by the parents. And that was my gift to all of them at the end of the semester for all the skills they had learned.

And most of all, I was pleased that a sponsor agreed to top up their gift card monthly for an acceptable amount.

Kaveh was his name. He took most of the photos you see. He was a quiet and orderly person who lived with his mother and wanted to be independent. He wanted to be a photographer or work in a cafe and earn a living. When he went in front of the camera, he announced his decision to play Al Pacino

Kaveh was able to learn basic photography well and was my cinematographer in making the short film "Letter to the President". The House of the Alam support group was also able to provide him with a job, and he was given responsibility in this group. He was responsible for hosting the weekly faculty meetings of the group. He used to entertain us every week with coffee or tea and homemade carrot cake, and he was able to make money.

I remember him the moment I type. Her name was Sarah from the class. To be honest, she was my favorite person and my biggest challenge. Born with Down Syndrome, she had movement disorders and, most of all, severe speech disorders. I well remember the first time I saw him. she was kind and smiling and struggled to communicate with body language and gestures.

Sarah was actually my teacher. I had all the personal skills and techniques I learned because of the challenges of communicating with her.

But again, art helped me in this challenge. I was able to communicate with Sarah by studying art history and with very little trial and error. Sarah had very little vocabulary, something close to 30 words. She communicated more through voice or, if he trusted anyone, through body language and gestures.

As you know, in the tradition of modern and contemporary Western art, especially the art of performance; There were great artists who created works on nonverbal communication or referred to the subject of body language and body language. I spent days studying and learning about this topic in art history and was able to find an individual technique for communicating with Sarah.

Sarah was able to increase her vocabulary to 80 words and also found a way to communicate using a pointing order, but very little.

And this story behind the photos continued until 2019