"Man of Glass", or Art Therapy through Theatrein a Group of Underprivileged Children

Abstract

This article presents influencing with art1 and influencing through art2 aiming at the creation of situations which support the potential of individuals, especially in the case of children from backgrounds with ineffective parenting. Children from such backgrounds participated in an arts therapy project which aimed to facilitate creative activity through the preparation of a theatre show. Children’s cognitive, psychological and emotional needs are important, which is why the satisfaction of these needs was also an aim, as it was found that these needs were not being satisfied in the children’s culturally deprived environment. Influencing through art (in this case – a performing art) can very well serve the satisfaction of individual needs related to self-identification and self-definition (Bauman, 2010). From this point on, it is a straight road to influencing individuals’ self-esteem.