The Digital Art Therapy program at the Salvation Army Lawson Ministries Hamilton Autism Centre (SALMH) provides adults with ASD an opportunity to create digital art on password protected touchscreen devices (i.e., Dell 15-inch touchscreen laptops and Dell 55-inch 4K interactive Monitor using a variety of art-making apps. The program is best suited for individuals with high sensory sensitivities who prefer creating in a mess-free, texture-free artistic environment.  While creating digital art, verbal participants have an opportunity to engage in dialogues with the art therapists regarding their daily activities, emotions, hopes, favourite interests, and upcoming family and community events.  Non-verbal participants undergo personal self-expression through digital art-making. 

Facilitator: 

Olena Darewych, PhD, RP, RCAT is a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario, a Registered Canadian Art Therapist and Adjunct Faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University and Adler University. Clinically, she has 17 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and older adults in a variety of settings such as hospitals, child and family services, schools, and long term-care facilities in Australia, Canada, USA and Ukraine. Her current research investigates imagination in adults with autism using arts-based assessments.