Join our email list »
ART CLASSES
Summer Art Camp
When school is out for the summer, art is in at CREATE! Each week of summer camp will bring new art adventures. Our teaching artists inspire creativity by teaching a variety of techniques, and by exploring the styles of artists to help our campers draw inspiration for their own artwork.
Camp Create
Camp Create is a summer camp designed for youth with minor to moderate behavioral and emotional differences, who will benefit from extra attention and support. Campers with anxiety, learning delays, social and emotional difficulties are welcome. Campers will learn everyday life skills, such as mindfulness techniques, flexible thinking habits, healthy expression of emotions, and positive self-image through artistic expression.
No-school-day Camp
CREATE offers camps on days throughout the year when school is closed, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Veterans Day, teacher conference days, spring break, winter break, and February break. Calendars align with MCPS and DCPS schedules and also include local private schools. Don’t see a date? Contact us to create a camp.
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Art Therapy
CREATE’s licensed art therapists provide confidential and compassionate support to children, teens and adults living with mental health issues, including grief, depression, trauma and addictions, as well as developmental disabilities and autism. No prior art experience needed to benefit from our treatment programs. We offer individual and group therapy for all ages.
Wellness & Mindfulness
We offer art and mindfulness group programs for people to share and de-stress while learning principles of art therapy. Group sessions incorporate meditation, yoga, breathing exercises to cope with anxiety, depression and difficult transitions that we all experience throughout the course of our live.
smARTkids Afterschool
CREATE’s smARTkids free afterschool program helps young students from low-income schools, English learners with emotional or developmental challenges, who benefit from a curriculum that builds critical thinking skills, resilience, peer skills, language and literacy skills in a highly supported setting. Since 2009, smARTkids has benefitted over 1,200 young students.
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Partnerships
CREATE works with diverse and non-traditional partners across our mental health services and art education programs, including Community Bridges, Shepherd’s Table, A Wider Circle, Montgomery County Public Schools, Linkages to Learning, YMCA, & other nonprofits and businesses.
Corporate Events
Art is the perfect inspiration for engaging and fun events. From workplace team building to unicorn birthday parties, we will customize your event to optimize fun, inspire creativity and promote bonding.
Art Gallery
Named after CREATE’s founder, the Tamar Hendel Gallery hosts art exhibitions, receptions and artist talks featuring unique artwork from diverse local artists. Exhibitions are held throughout the year and are free to the public.
CREATE ARTS CENTER NEWS
The Art of Alliances: Five Rules for Creating Powerful Partnerships
AM I SMARTER THAN A 7-OR 8-YEAR OLD?! When my kids were seven and eight-years old, I wanted to share with them my passion for community organizing and partnership building. But how to explain a decade of my work in a way that had...
Supplementing your Child’s Art Education
Parent to parent, let’s talk about art for our kids. While at my day job I’m CREATE’s Deputy Director, I’m also the parent of an elementary schooler and a middle schooler, so I understand the value of arts education both personally and professionally. Let’s face it,...
What is Art Therapy?
Art therapy is a relatively young discipline that employs artistic methods and creative expression within a psychotherapeutic relationship. In this blog post, we answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding art therapy, its history, and its scope of...
Art Classes in Silver Spring, MD
CREATE achieves its mission through quality arts education classes that engage all ages and levels of experience in the joy of art-making. We recognize all forms of creativity and diversity in artistic expression. CREATE is committed to broad-based, inclusive partnerships that help to inform our programming and decision-making so that we can better serve the needs of our very diverse community. We believe that inclusion and equity in access to the many benefits of CREATE’s art education and mental health programs enrich people’s lives, strengthen families and build sustainable community connections.
