SWAMPSCOTT – Community members gathered at the Senior Center for the premiere of the documentary film “Opening Minds Through Art” and its summer art exhibit.
Originally developed at Miami University in Ohio, Opening Minds Through Art is an evidence-based, intergenerational arts program for people with dementia. Artists are paired with volunteers who are trained to rely on their imagination rather than memory.
On-site, students from Swampscott High School were trained by Granger St. Studios founder and certified dementia therapist Siobhan McDonald as part of health teacher Hadley Woodfin’s curriculum. Heidi Whear, director of senior services at the senior center, praised Woodfin for pushing her students to implement the program.
The documentary followed the students and seniors who participated in the program’s fall semester. Rising junior Daniel Miretsky was responsible for filming and assembling the video, along with his Swampscott TV colleagues Joe Douillette and Sammy Dowd.
“I’ve never filmed anything like this before and it was pretty interesting,” Miretsky said. “We just went to each group individually and tried to capture the different aspects of the program.”
Both seniors and sophomores were interviewed while footage was shown of them creating artwork together. Sophomore Chloe Overbaugh and senior Bill Key were one of the duos featured and both spoke at length about the bond they have built.
“I was very surprised and very pleased. I had a lot of fun working with Chloe,” said Key. “I really enjoyed working with her and I really enjoyed it.”
Overbaugh was one of several students who returned to the program this summer. Sabrina Clopton, social worker at the Senior Center, expressed her pride and gratitude to the 20 students who took time out of their summer vacation to participate in Opening Minds through Art. She pointed out that newcomers had to go through an extensive training process.
The interest even went beyond the students, as Ashley Burse decided to get involved herself after hearing about the experience from her daughter Lauren.
“I personally have experience with family members who have dementia, my father-in-law and my grandmother, and so it just seemed like it would be something beautiful that we, my daughter and I, could do together,” Burse said. “It was a really meaningful experience.”
