Story Updated: Jun 17, 2011 at 6:22 PM MDT
This Saturday, the Center for Mental Health is holding its annual Beautiful Minds Walk in Great Falls. It's the Center’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
The Center serves more than 700 children in Central Montana and is dedicated to an early investment in their futures. Saturday, organizers will be using art to promote a positive message to children.
It's a simple phrase: when I grow up I can do anything. It's the slogan artist Dana Del Guerra captured in her paintings for the Beautiful Minds Walk. “We really want the message to be that children really can accomplish anything, and we truly believe that,” CEO Sydney Blair said.
After adding one last detail, the paintings became interactive. The artist hopes the cut-outs encourage children to be creative. “Whether they have a physical or cognitive disability, a mental disorder, they're able to be creative and realize that, really, the possibilities are endless,” Del Guerra said.
Blair added, “We're hoping the kids have a lot of fun seeing themselves as somebody else and stretching their vision of who they think they are or can be in the future.”
Kids of all ages will be able to do anything, from walking on the moon to riding horseback with their friends. “I was trying to think of things I would like to do if I were a kid; kind of tapping into my own young spirit,” Del Guerra explained.
She uses art in therapy and believes it has a healing power. “When you paint or do something creative, you're showing the world bits and pieces of your life experience and yourself, and that's the power of the creative process,” Del Guerra said.
With just a few faces left to cut, the Center is preparing for the Beautiful Minds Walk. Mental disorders touch all walks of life; officials say one in four people will be affected by a mental illness. “It's a way of celebrating all those beautiful minds that are out there,” Blair said of the Beautiful Minds Walk.
If you want to see the cut-outs in person or would like to participate in the Beautiful Minds Walk, meet at the ExpoPark Saturday at 11am for registration and 1pm for the walk.
All of the money raised at the event will go to programs in the 13 counties the Center for Mental Health covers.