Art Therapy and Personal Development Centre Bahar Cirali

By Heidi Trautmann

Although I have already reported extensively on the background of Bahar Ciralı’s Art Centre I have the wish to share with you my impressions of the exhibition when I went there on the opening evening.

It was a heartwarming experience to see so many children and their parents proud and excited of the children’s work on display.  I could see it in their little faces, they were being taken serious, their work was good enough to be shown to the adult world.

‘It is good to be different’ says the title of the exhibition and the catalogue that is made up like a children’s book. It is good to develop the own personality at early age and not wait until you are grown up and only then realize that actually there is another person in your skin. With it goes self-respect and self-confidence.

It is also a reminder to the grown-up world to support this basic life philosophy and not enforce traditional ways of society.