Periwinkle Arts in Medicine Program

The Periwinkle Arts in Medicine Program provides fun and educational children’s art projects to encourage the development of coping skills in children with cancer and blood disorders.

The Periwinkle Arts in Medicine Program exposes children and teens to art in both the inpatient and outpatient clinical settings. Children admitted to the hospital can participate in many activities along with their families and siblings.

How Art Helps

Art encourages self-expression, and it is particularly helpful to relieve stress in children who are undergoing chemotherapy treatment or blood transfusions. Making music, singing songs, performing dance, watching plays, writing poetry, and creating visual art, is an important part of the healing process. The availability of artistic therapies in healthcare settings, sometimes called ‘arts in healthcare,’ can be a vital resource in helping patients to cope with an acute illness. Art and healthcare go hand-in-hand because art enhances the healing environment and treatment experience.

Young Artists

Making A Mark® An Exhibition of Art by Children Touched by Cancer and Blood Disorders is an annual art exhibit presented by The Periwinkle Foundation. The extraordinary display is featured annually at Texas Children's Hospital, and then travels around the world. The exhibit features the work of young artists whose lives have been touched by cancer and blood disorders. The artwork provides a unique focus on their personal issues, as they struggle and cope with their treatment and diseases.

Submit Your Artwork for the Exhibit

Young Musicians

Purple Songs Can Fly is a unique project that provides a musical outlet for the many children being treated for cancer and blood disorders at Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Centers and their siblings. In this program, which is the first of its kind, the children work with founder, Anita Kruse and other professional composers to write and record their own songs. In an in-house studio, composers work with the children individually or in small groups to write, record, and burn songs to disc within short sessions.

Learn More at purplesongscanfly.org

Young Authors

The Splendid Review is a bi-annual literary anthology that celebrates the creative work of our young authors. Patients and siblings write stories, poems, songs and even comic strips.