By Foster Team
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The Art Speaks
Every week, children across the Bay Area sit down with high-quality art materials, a skilled facilitator, and the freedom to create whatever they need to create. This is some of what emerges.
These works were made by children and youth in DrawBridge programs at shelters, transitional housing, and community sites across seven Bay Area counties. We share them because they deserve to be seen, on their own terms, as the creative expressions of young people with something to say.
These works are part of a living archive of creative expression spanning 37 years of DrawBridge programming. Many more can be experienced in person at The Art of San Francisco, our gallery at 2 Embarcadero Center, where youth artwork is exhibited alongside work by established Bay Area artists.
One afternoon, a girl told me I couldn't watch her make her craft. Every time I tried to talk to her or help, she would hide her paper and say, 'No, you can't see it now.' After a while, she came over and handed me her drawings with a smile, saying, 'This is for you.'" — DrawBridge Volunteer
"Since I started 18 years ago, a child began at age five and stayed through childhood. By the time she was 12 or 13, she wanted to help instead of just making art. Her younger sisters joined later, and they too grew up in the group and returned as teen volunteers. The consistency, the relationships with the family, and seeing children return to give back — that's priceless." —DrawBridge Facilitator
