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Learning to C: Visual Arts Education as Strengths Based Practice in Juvenile Correctional Facilities

NCJ Number
228094
Journal
Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 60 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 146-163
Author(s)
Heather A. Oesterreich; Sara McNie Flores
Date Published
June 2009
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined visual arts education in juvenile correctional facilities.
Abstract
Results demonstrate how visual arts education as a strength-based practice in juvenile correctional facilities offers youth the opportunity for change and growth to occur when their strengths, past successes, present behaviors, and possible futures emerge. Findings of the study demonstrate how incarcerated youth who participate in the study program actively engage in the 5-Cs: connection, community, contribution, concentration, and completion with their art. They contribute to their immediate environment and the larger community; and rewrite their ability to concentrate and complete difficult and daunting tasks. Data were collected from the participation of 46 young men who were served by "The Artist Inside Program," offered 4 separate times, each session lasting 12-20 weeks. Methods of inquiry included participant observation, document analysis, and art education in which youth talked about their art and their artistic process. References