Aurelija Petrulytė
Head of Markučiai Day-Activity Center

It has been two years that I am working at Day-Activity Center Fine Arts sector. I joined the Center having a strong wish to help the disabled persons that are often considered as limited people; and that is the cause of their repulsion of the world. I do think disabled have to be surrounded by trust and love, which help to open their creativity.
We enjoy our time drinking tea and watching the albums of works of art, talking about future plans, sharing different impressions. The creation is not an aspiration of the pure results. The creation we take as liberation of the human soul’s power. Disabled persons have difficulties expressing their thoughts in words; the drawing stimulates the search of harmony and beauty feelings in their hearts and in the surrounding world.
The creative work helps to heal the wounds of the soul, releases people from their fears, stress and depression. Let’s say Mantas, the participant of the Fine Arts sector, used to draw houses with the small foots, linked one to the other. It looked as the houses were live creations that talk among themselves.
The past of Mantas is full of difficult experiences, instability, wounds of soul. The houses that Mantas liked to draw were dark, gloomy and somber. Every time I was offering wide palette of the colors Mantas used to choose dark and melancholic colors.
Working together with Mantas I have seen his fears, inner stress, lack of confidence in people. Last summer Mantas spent his vocation at the seaside. After his return I noticed the greatest transformation in his soul. He started to draw in light and live colors, his pieces of art began to shine as colorful stained-glass.
I never get bore looking at Violeta while she paints. She bravely and spontaneously mixes the colors. The lines that she draws are free and harmonious. Even skilful painter would envy Violeta her talent for the light play with the abstract lines and colors that create expressive pictures and portraits.
Vita has great difficulties ruling the brush. She puts so many efforts to every picture but I can see Vita likes painting. While making the piece of art the girl isolates herself from the surrounding world. Before she starts she thinks of the object for a long time.
Vita has created her own technique of the drawing: thousands of tiny dots and trembling lines that turn to the completed work. Completed work of art is the feast for Vita. She wants to be praised and recognized; and she deserves that. Every time I look to her paintings I feel my soul is touched by something light, warm and good.
Working with the disabled persons I have noticed that their artistic intuition is very high, even higher than the people around usually have. Disabled draw bravely, without any hesitation. Their fantasy has no borders. The creations of the disabled help for the healthy people to discover the deepest corners of the human soul.

Antanė Kaminskienė
Lithuanian Children and Youth Center Special training sector
The leader of art group

The special training sector is located in Lithuanian Children and Youth Center and has 10 years history by its own. The sector is based on the work with the disabled persons. There is variety of activities in the sector so the disabled youngsters can spend all the day in the center taking different hobbies.

The most important role that the sector is taking in the disabled youngsters life is that these young people are able to get the joy of communication and to rise the self-value. They have very different personalities; the threads that tie them together are their sincerity and inner intuition. These two things are basic for the creative work. And this is the answer to the question why the works of the disabled are that high quality. Disabled are using simple tools for their work: felt-tip pens, multicolored pencils, and aquarelle but the effect that the oeuvres make to the viewer is very strong. Disabled youngsters see, feel and draw the world that the professional artists are imagining in their fantasies.

Activities of special education sector in Lithuanian Children and Youth Center

The community of disabled patronage “Viltis” (“Hope”) got able to integrate its members to the society when the department of patronage and care was established in the Lithuanian Children and Youth Center. The active leader Ms. Viktorija Vitaitė was in charge of the department. Later the department was turned to the special training sector.
The first activity that took place in the department was folk group named “Pliauškutis”. The sincere work of the group leaders Valerija Brūzgienė and Romualdas Brūzga brought good results. After fives years of work the new activity was created. It was first time in Lithuania that music group of disabled persons was organized. It was called “Orchestra of colors”.
The educators of the special training sector teach disabled all kinds of domestic sciences. There are different kinds of activities in the special training sector now: fine art, pottery, needlework, music, drawing, dance and etc. The oeuvres that are made by the disabled one can get acquainted in the exhibitions and fairs. The leaders of the sector look for the possibilities to participate in all kinds of events and take the responsibility themselves to organize exhibitions, festivals or the events on special holidays.

Occupation and training special boarding school of Ukmerge

The sector of working occupation and training in the special boarding school of the town Ukmergė was established in 1999. There are nine students in the group: one girl and eight boys. All nine of them have an integrated disability. The youngsters are trained according individual training for the development of personal abilities, which main target is to help the adaptation process for disabled in the social life of the country. The training consists of the various activities. Youngsters take part in the activities of fine art, pottery, music, industrial gymnastic and other groups. They are taught to make food, to help the others and themselves. They make all kinds of creations out of wood, textile and different natural stuff. Trips, excursions, exhibitions, parties got to be common events of the group.