Kristin Eberts / For The Post / ke277604@ohiou.edu

During the “Souper Bowl” event held at the Athens Community Center last Sunday, Janet Polzer and Joan Henderson examine the various types of bowls hand-made by local Passion Works artists. For $17, attendees of the event received a bowl of their choice, soup, bread, and cookies. Proceeds support Passion Works studio and Athens Area Mediation Services.

Alexis Rhinehart is an artist and an author who said she has met many friends through her work, including soul singer Smokey Robinson.

She also has a developmental disorder, but that hasn’t hurt her art.

Jim Gillespie said his paintings show the most important things in his life, including his friends and his girlfriend, Irene.

Though he has difficulty communicating, his artwork speaks for him.

Gillespie and Rhinehart attend weekly sessions at Athens’ Passion Works studio, which gives artists with mental retardation and other developmental disorders the freedom to paint, write and create whatever projects they want, said Joyce Frank of Passion Works.

Passion Works, 21 Campbell St., is funded by state and federal grants, local tax levies and sales of the artists’ work.

Since the 1970s, art has been used to treat people with physical, emotional and psychological problems, said Diane Pappes, an art therapist who works part-time at Akron Children’s Hospital.

Passion Works does not offer art therapy in a technical sense, said Passion Works Director Patty Mitchell, adding that true art therapy is a more structured activity.

“Art therapy has a therapeutic, physical or cognitive aim, whereas our goal is simply to create fine art,” Mitchell said. “It’s not that people don’t see these benefits (of art therapy), it’s just that therapy isn’t our goal.”

Art therapy “allows people to express themselves without having to talk,” Pappes said, adding that art is a less threatening form of expression than talking.

Most children enjoy doing art projects, such as building a volcano to express their anger, she said.

“They can express themselves without feeling vulnerable,” Pappes said.

The 32 artists who visit Passion Works each week enjoy learning new skills and expressing themselves, Frank said.

It gives them “a chance to be really creative,” she said.

“You can do whatever you want,” Rhinehart said, adding that Passion Works is also a place to meet new friends.

Often, art therapy is “a learning experience about ourselves,” Pappes said. She has worked as an art therapist for nine years and deals mostly with children with behavioral problems.

Art therapy also benefits patients by showing them that they can create beautiful work to combat negativity in their lives, she said.

Art therapy was part of Ohio University’s curriculum for three or fours years in the 1980s but was removed because of budget reductions, said Bob Lazuka, director of OU’s School of Art.

Most programs similar to art therapy now fall under psychology or education, Lazuka said, adding that the school will have to phase out its art education program because of more budget cuts.

Art education “is not central to what we do here,” Lazuka said. “We can just no longer afford to do it.”

OU’s School of Art has made its reputation as a studio for students who want to be professional artists, he said.

Though art therapy was of great interest in the 1970s, there are few art therapy programs across the country now, Lazuka said.

Students who are interested in art can gravitate to teaching and health care programs that incorporate art, Pappes said.

“You can be very creative in making a job for yourself,” she said.

“It doesn’t mean that there’s not a call for that sort of thing,” Lazuka said. “We, as artists here, certainly believe in the power of art.”