[A mental health hygiene experiment: the case of Les Pinceaux d'Or]

Many research, notably that of Gene Cohen (2007), have shown positive impact of artistic activities for seniors. In 2006 in Quebec City, three professional painters have created a none lucrative organization called Les Pinceaux d'Or (The Golden Brushes). Its mission is to create a positive experience of painting learning in elderly needing persons. The organization operates in long-term health-care facilities or in low-income housings and day centers. It offers free painting courses to elderly persons referred by local community health centers or community organizations as seniors with psychosocial needs. The only condition for participation is to be a person able to hold a brush. The person often uses his memories to personalize the subject, positive emotional exchange with others, not to mention pleasant moments, sharing, discovering that we still can learn, even in the presence of Alzheimer's or stroke sequel. Participants averaged 81 years old, and four of them are over hundred (one person was 110 years old). We expect to present the humanistic approach of the organization and, in summary, the results of a qualitative study of the perceived effects of those courses on participants. Finally, we want to illustrate that we face there an evolutionary artistic process and that artistic activity is a form of hygiene, especially when someone is getting older. Second, we suggest that the process of healthy aging involves an adjustment of personal development that should never stop. Through these courses, the seniors develop a personal growth congruent to the recovery ideology: a life project (mostly leave a mark to family members); empowerment; social inclusion; and finally citizenship.