Arts 4 Alzheimer's Draws Relief For Patients and Caregivers

Creative activities can provide an outlet for people with Alzheimer's to express emotions, and for their caregivers to escape the seriousness of the situation.

Even though the disease robs people of their memories and recognitions, there is also a secondary sufferer of Alzheimer's. Caregivers provide day-to-day help for loved ones battling the disease, but have to stand by and take on the emotional pain, as well.

Providing relief for people with early-stage memory loss, and their caregivers, is the the Arts 4 Alzheimer's program developed by Tania Becker, president of the board of the Spruill Center in Atlanta with the help of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Alzheimer's Association.

Each week, people with Alzheimer's make their way to class, not sure if they had been there before or not. But as soon as they begin to paint or draw, the confusion disperses and pure happiness takes over. For the time being, they can escape into a world of bright colors and shapes.

"One of the ways to get to people with Alzheimer's is to engage them through art, because art is so creative," Becker told CNN. "It's the one thing, of course, you learn as a child, so those memories are still there and we can get into their memory bank through art. It's just amazing to see how this works."

According to the Alzheimer's Association, in 2009 nearly 11 million family members and friends provided care for a someone with Alzheimer's or other dementias. This amounted to 2.5 billion hours of emotionally and physically taxing care.

There is no cure for Alzheimer's, so programs that provide relief from the stress and sadness that comes along with the disease and all of those it affects, are truly a godsend.

"One of the things about people with Alzheimer's is that they have no yesterday and they have no tomorrow," said Becker. "All they have is the now. So what we give them is a very special now here with their art."

Photo by bookgrl via Flickr.