(gentle uplifting music) - I think it's such an important time in a person's life is their childhood.

And if they stumble in some way that they can be helped early in life, it's such a gift to be able to get that help and to be able to understand that they're not alone in the need of getting that help.

(gentle uplifting music) - Mental health challenges in children, adolescents and young adults are real and they are widespread.

But most importantly, they are treatable and preventable.

(crowd applauding) - The strategy around creating this building was wanting to be a beacon to the community, wanting to announce that intention of filling this gap in service and shining a light on mental health.

This building was meant to be celebratory.

- It's probably no surprise that for a child who's really struggling with stress or mood, the experience of receiving care for that condition, especially in a secured and locked inpatient facility can be pretty unsettling.

And one of the things we wanted to do very carefully to offset that unsettling experience, is to just make it a comfortable space.

- [Interviewee] Good design does contribute to better health outcomes.

- The design of every floor was done with access to large open windows, natural sunlight, a lot of very vibrant colors, a lot of almost playful or whimsical design elements, as well as the fixtures and facilities.

The furniture, the layout of the bedroom, the artwork that is part of the walls themselves throughout the patient care space, was all done so that as they go through the treatment process, they don't even have to think about what their physical environment is like and how to navigate that space.

- It was so important to introduce not only the art of healing, but the healing of art.

(gentle inspiring music) The ability for our patients to be able to express themselves, whether it's through painting or drawing or singing or rapping or playing a musical instrument, it is so important to their healing, and to have their therapy and to be able to work with their therapist, to be able to have an outlet to express what their feelings are, what their emotions are, and it really is part of the healing journey.

(gentle uplifting music) We actually commissioned art to come into this building.

- The art was a big part of communicating that set of expectations, of wonder, delight, hopefulness and joy.

- [Interviewee] It was important for us to connect with artists who would connect with our mental health mission.

And we told them what was gonna be happening inside this building, the special care that we were gonna be delivering and the struggles that our children were going to be facing.

And we asked them to use that as inspiration for their artwork.

- [Interviewee] Children who have experienced some type of insult or injury in their lives and are feeling the emotional and psychological ramifications of that, are not dissimilar to the insult and injury that an oyster receives from a grain of sand that gets turned into a bright pearl.

- When children come into our facility, we want them to know that they too, can be that bright pearl.

The piece behind me is really special.

For us, it was really important to bring art up into the patient care environment, because we think it brings tremendous peace and calm and reassurance and the beauty of art into our patient care areas.

- The 12 jewels are knowledge, wisdom, understanding, freedom, justice, equality, food, clothing, and shelter as well as love, peace, and happiness.

I think that art in a healing space is very important.

My mother worked in hospitals my whole life, so I sort of grew up in hospitals.

I would say that the 12 jewels clearly tie into mental health, starting with knowledge, the use of the mind, but also ending with love, peace, and happiness.

Those are some of the successes of mental health.

- [Interviewee] CHKD adopted a new mission statement this past year, which is health, healing and hope for all children.

- What I wanted to do was for visitors to be able to read the whole text, but then for the text to flip both positive and negative, so that possibly viewers could experience each word as what its meaning is separate from the whole.

I think it's really important to have art in a healing space, because you wanna really create an environment that's engaging this dynamic that's active.

I think that one of the things that's so wonderful about art is that it can both transport you to a different place, but it can also locate you to where you are, which is an important part of any healing process.

- As an adolescent, I had my own mental health issues and was no stranger to a mental health hospital.

You know, it meant a great deal to me to be able to make this piece for this audience and to try to make something that would be inspiring and very positive and help to create an environment that destigmatizes mental health.

We are all individuals.

We all have our own stories.

Some of these stories have difficult moments, and yet we all have something of value that we bring out into the world.

- This past spring, students from the Governor's School were asked to interpret their experience, either personal or through their friends or family with mental health through their artwork.

We were so moved by this, that we commissioned one of the young students, and we have two pieces of her art.

They're beautiful, they're inspirational.

- So I didn't want it to be a specific thing like a person or a drawing of an object.

They're very joyful colors, you know?

They're not dark or unsaturated.

I really hope that people see in my art things in a new way, that they look at things closer, that they look at things unconventionally.

(gentle uplifting music) - [Interviewee] You know, art is such a healing thing to engage with.

It's a human thing, I think.

It's so wonderful for kids, parents, to understand that and to see that.

(uplifting music)