On December 23, the Hermitage XXI Century Foundation will conduct the online presentation of its art therapy workbook.

Intended for use by psychologists, teachers, and therapists, it includes practical lessons aimed at developing the emotional side of special needs teenagers and young people. The workbook was created based on images from the State Hermitage’s collection.

Art therapy today uses the possibilities of visual art and the museum environment to encourage positive changes in the emotional and personal development of individuals. The Hermitage XXI Century Foundation workbook includes games and exercises that will introduce individuals with mental health conditions to the world of emotions, show them how to express their feelings in a way that makes them understandable to others, and analyse why they arise.

Viewers will learn psychological methods that use the possibilities of visual art and the museum environment to make beneficial changes in the emotional, intellectual, and personal development of young people with special needs, as well as a methodology for working with the workbook.

Presenter and project director Margarita Izotova is a candidate of psychological science and a clinical psychologist at St Petersburg Paediatric Medical University.

The meeting will be moderated by Tatyana Kolosova, candidate of psychological science and educational psychologist at St Petersburg State University.

The presentation and online broadcast begins at 15:00 and will last for 1 hour.

“The Art Therapy Workbook”, published by the Hermitage XXI Century Foundation with support from a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, is part of a two-year (2019-2020) work project by a group of Russian art therapists, headed by Margarita Izotova, under the aegis of the International Museum 15/24 project.

To participate in the online presentation, you must register.

You can watch this presentation on Manege’s Youtube channel.