Impact Report
2002 – to date
www.exploringcreativity.org
Performance Overview
• 260 Exploring Creativity In Depth programs since 2002
• Over 6,000 students and 185 teachers
• 25 schools, most from priority neighbourhoods (inner
suburbs) of Toronto (Toronto District and Toronto Catholic
District School Boards)
• Home-School programs for children with special needs
• 21 qualified artist/teachers staff the programs
Performance Overview
• 16 teachers’ workshops
• Shows of student drawings and creative writing at
the NeilsonPark Creative Centre (7), Arts Etobicoke
Gallery (3), and in schools (7)
• Presentations at conferences in Britain, U.S.A., South
America and Canada
• New programs:
– Nature and Imagination Through Art and Science
– In-school ECiD for grades 6-8
– Mark-it-up
Student feedback on program
78%
Feel more happy
79%
Feel more excited
84%
Feel more interested
87%
Feel more confident
88%
Feel more creative
89%
90%
91%
Would like to do more arts/crafts
Learned about others in their class
Learned about themselves
91%
94%
98%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Learned about arts
Gave positive feedback
Teachers observe positive changes
in students
Express empathy
45%
Social skills
49%
Ability to pay attention
61%
Confidence & self esteem
82%
Desire to engage in art
84%
96%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Use of creative imagination
Documentation
• 4,000 feedback forms from students, teachers and
parent-volunteers
• 60 post-program interviews with selected teachers
• Selected student artworks and creative writing archived
• 25 longitudinal profiles with teachers and students
• 2 Assessments
• 4 videos: (1) 30 min. documentary; (2) 10 minute
overview; (3) ECiD at a school Festival of the Arts; (4)
Teacher Interviews
Documentation
Girl, Grade 8
A. The Place I Used to See.
B. The Magical Land of Dreams
Documentation
Boy, Grade 8
A. (Left) Gone unnoticed. Alone. Misunderstood. Depressed.
Nowhere to go. Lifeless. Gone.
B. Complexity & Depth of THE MIND. The mind has endless
possibilities. Impossible in Nothing.
Testimonial: Teacher I
• 2002: teacher without background in art gave 100 mins. per
weekly cycle for the arts.
• Brought her classes to the ECiD several times, attended
teachers’ workshop
• 2011: gives 210 mins. for Visual Art, Music, Dance and Drama,
plus 240 mins. for integrating arts with Math, Language Arts,
Science, and Social Studies.
• Quadrupled time for arts in her timetable
• Enjoys teaching more than ever
Testimonial: Teacher I
•
•
•
•
•
This teacher said the ECiD program showed her the
value of:
Non-directed creativity
Integrating the arts in all subject areas
Students have opportunity to feel and be successful
Arts programming meets the learning styles and
strengths of all students
More time for creative activities makes teaching
more enjoyable
Testimonial: Teacher II
A grade six teacher :
• “Students and teacher after experiencing the
program go back to school and everyday life
retaining an unspoken connection on a deeper
level almost as if on a soulful level. Greater
respect for each other and their vulnerability =
Trust.”
Testimonial: Students I
• Boy, Grade 2: “My art makes me feel peaceful
because of the colours I used. My art is saying
welcome to my world! I think I am a good artist
because I drew this picture.”
• Girl, Grade 5: “In my mind I wonder what’s there,/
Miracles, dreams, all about me./ My imagination
flows through this delicate system./. . . All my own
for me to hold,/ My mind a beautiful thing.”
Testimonials: Students II
• Boy, Grade 7: “My imagination showed me
something I did not know and I couldn’t describe, so
I drew it out.”
• Girl, Grade 7: “I learned I can put my imagination on
paper.”
• Boy, Grade 8: “This artwork expresses one’s creativity
and imagination. It shows anyone can do anything.”
Testimonials: Students III
Grade 8 male student, third time:
“This trip made me feel that I should be a artist
instead of a engineer. Every time I come [on] the trip
and make a picture, everyone in my class and also my
group that I share my picture loved it. My group
wanted to just go in the picture and explore the new
world they saw in my picture.” Dec. 2010.
Testimonial: Educators I
On Clarkson Report, “My Mind a Beautiful Thing”
• “Education is all about releasing the imagination and
encouraging creativity. This Report . . . attempts to
get at the meaning of education.”
– John Ralston Saul, essayist and novelist.
• “I thought the Report excellent. . . I do hope it will
have appropriate responses from those with power
to make changes.”
– Kieran Egan, Prof. of Education, Simon Fraser University;
Director, Imagination in Education Research Group.
NEW PROGRAMS
Five minutes of free drawing with or without listening
to music:
focuses attention, calms feelings and tunes up mind
and body in preparation for sustained attention and
cognitive effort.
NEW PROGRAMS
An experience of nature and the creative
process for grades 4 to 8. A Nature Walk and a
20-minute “Solo” in a park, woodland, or
ravine, followed by sculpting in clay.
Funders and partners