Creative Arts, Health and Well-Being
Mission: Energize Disabled Through Art
Disabled Artists Foundation, Inc. (dAFi) provides art supplies and creative projects to disabled adults in the United States who live at or near the poverty level.
Our purpose is not to judge the finished art or require someone to become a professional artist. The value begins with having the opportunity to create.
Why Creative Access Matters
Disability and financial hardship can both limit access to art supplies, instruction and creative opportunities.
dAFi removes part of that barrier by providing supplies directly to disabled adults. Hartists choose from different types of art and craft projects based on their interests, abilities and needs.
Research suggests that participating in creative activities may support:
Self-expression and personal identity
Emotional well-being
Stress management
Concentration and engagement
Confidence and a sense of agency
Social connection
Meaningful use of time
Quality of life
Results vary among people, activities and studies. Art does not need to produce a measurable medical improvement to have value. Creating something can provide purpose, choice, curiosity, enjoyment or simply a different place to direct attention.
Understanding the Research
Arts-and-health research includes many different activities:
Self-directed art-making and crafts
Organized creative programs
Clinical art therapy
Viewing art
Music
Dance and movement
Expressive writing
Group and community art projects
These activities are related, but they are not interchangeable.
dAFi primarily supports self-directed visual art and craft-making. We therefore give the greatest weight to research involving active participation and creating. Research involving formal art therapy, music or viewing art provides broader context, but it does not directly measure the effect of receiving and independently using a dAFi art-supply package.
Research Supporting Creative Participation
The Research That Helped Start dAFi
The Connection Between Art, Healing and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature
Heather L. Stuckey, DEd and Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH (2010)
Before dAFi existed, founder Care Hart read this peer-reviewed review of research involving visual art, music, movement-based creative expression and expressive writing.
The research examined how participating in creative activities may affect physical and emotional well-being. The authors found evidence of benefits in some areas while also acknowledging that the full effect of creative participation on health remained uncertain.
This was the research that helped Care decide to create Disabled Artists Foundation, Inc. It supported an idea she already believed mattered: people living with disabilities and financial hardship should have access to art supplies and the opportunity to discover what creating could offer them.
The study did not design or evaluate dAFi’s program, and dAFi does not claim that art guarantees a medical result. It helped turn the idea into action and became part of the foundation for our mission: Energize Disabled Through Art.
Read the full peer-reviewed article through the National Institutes of Health: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2804629/
World Health Organization Evidence Review
What Is the Evidence on the Role of the Arts in Improving Health and Well-Being?
World Health Organization (2019)
The World Health Organization reviewed a large body of evidence concerning the arts, health and well-being.
The report examined how arts participation may contribute to health promotion, prevention and the management or treatment of health conditions. It included visual arts, crafts, music, literature, culture and other forms of creative engagement.
Because the report covers many populations, art forms and structured interventions, it should not be interpreted as proof that every creative activity produces the same result. It does provide broad support for making creative participation more accessible.
Read the World Health Organization report:
https://iris.who.int/items/ba079951-0beb-4b7f-a1c5-a75cc66c283e
Creative Activities and Stress
Creative Arts Interventions for Stress Management and Prevention
Martin and colleagues (2018)
This review examined creative arts activities intended to help manage or prevent stress.
Several included studies involving active art-making, such as drawing or working with clay, reported reductions in stress or anxiety. However, the activities, participants and research methods differed across studies.
The findings support the possibility that active creation may help some people manage stress. They do not establish that every activity will help every person in the same way.
Read the full review through the National Institutes of Health:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5836011/
Crafts and Mental Well-Being
The Effects of Crafts-Based Interventions on Mental Health and Well-Being
Systematic review (2025)
This review is especially relevant to dAFi because it examined craft-based activities rather than only viewing art or participating in clinical art therapy.
The researchers found some evidence that crafts-based activities may benefit mental health and well-being. They also found that stronger and more consistent research is still needed.
This supports making craft participation available without claiming a guaranteed therapeutic result.
Read the full systematic review through the National Institutes of Health:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11830576/
Visual Arts and Older Adults
Effects of Visual Arts-Based Interventions on Health Outcomes in Older Adults
Systematic review (2023)
This review examined structured visual arts activities involving older adults.
The researchers reported improvements in some outcomes, including depressive symptoms and certain quality-of-life measures. Because these were organized interventions involving a particular population, the findings offer supporting evidence rather than a direct measurement of dAFi’s program.
Read the full review through the National Institutes of Health:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11080494/
An Important Evidence Boundary
Active Visual Art Therapy and Health Outcomes
Systematic review and meta-analysis (2024)
This review examined active visual art therapy and found improvement in some, but not most, of the patient outcomes measured across the included studies.
It is important to include research with mixed findings. Doing so helps distinguish a meaningful possibility from a guaranteed result.
This review concerns formal art therapy. dAFi does not provide art therapy, so its findings cannot be applied directly to our program. It does, however, demonstrate that creative activities should not be described as universally effective medical treatments.
Read the full review through the National Institutes of Health:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11393726/
How the Research Connects to dAFi
Research has not specifically tested whether receiving a quarterly dAFi package improves a Hartist’s health.
What the evidence does support is the reason for making creative participation accessible. Creating art may offer people opportunities for expression, engagement, choice, concentration, social connection and enjoyment.
dAFi provides the materials. Each Hartist determines what creating means and what value it brings to their life.
We do not require a Hartist to:
Produce a particular kind of art
Possess prior artistic experience
Complete every project
Share finished work publicly
Demonstrate medical improvement
Turn art into employment or income
We provide them the opportunity to create
What We Do Not Claim
dAFi does not claim that art:
Cures disability
Replaces medical or mental healthcare
Works the same way for everyone
Guarantees better physical or mental health
Produces a specific medical outcome
Must be completed through formal art therapy to have value
We provide art supplies, creative opportunities and inspiration. We are not medical providers or therapists.
Anyone who needs medical or mental healthcare should contact an appropriate qualified professional.
Why We Continue
Some disabled adults may never receive a cure or complete relief from the conditions affecting their lives. That does not mean their present well-being should be ignored while the world waits for future treatments.
Art can offer somewhere to place attention, energy, emotion, curiosity and imagination in the here and now.
That is why dAFi exists.
Energize Disabled Through Art.