DIFFERENT ART CENTRE (DAC)
(www.differentartcentre.com)
Based on the CDC recommendations, Magic Academy and Kerala Social Security Mission, Government of Kerala joined hands to open a Comprehensive Art Centre at Kazhakkuttom, Thiruvananthapuram for differently abled children to explore their artistic talents and promote the overall development of differently abled community. This dream project became a reality with the support of many good hearted minds on 7 November 2019.
The centre aims to empower and educate 100 specially abled children with various disabilities -not just intellectual-and expand the focus of training from concentrating on magic to art forms such as music, dance, drama, cinema making, painting and skills in various musical instruments, all blended with a magical touch. The centre aims to empower these children by recognizing and sharpening their raw talents through special and appropriate methods. The appreciation from the audience, reaching the centre from different parts of the world, increases a sense of confidence and better self-awareness of all participants.
A study on adaptive functioning in these children was carried out by Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCONS) and approximately 18% has shown improvement from their levels in the baseline. In maladaptive behaviour domain too, 17.94% showed a reduction in behavioural issues.
Along with artistic development, Magic Academy has formulated educational programs for the intellectual development of differently abled artistes, thereby ensuring their smooth passage into the mainstream of society. A comprehensive learning centre “Inspira” has been designed at the Different Art Centre premise to acquire the basic functionalities of learning such as Reading, Writing, Simple Mathematics, Language Development, Simple Matching Exercises, Puzzle Exercises, Simple Sequences and Attention through sound as well as behavioural coaching. As an initial measure, children have been provided with smart learning tools like tabs for their education.
The Kerala State Department of Social Justice, has recently recognized the centre, with he ‘Best Employer’ award for promoting differently abled employees.
Visit www.differentartcentre.com for more information.