About Us

Our Purpose

Our Progress

Our initiative started in the fall of 2023 as a project as part of a Youth Creating Change (YCC) Fellowship under the Communities United Against Hate organization based in Montgomery County, Maryland. We received mentorship and grant funding from YCC, which supported our inaugural regional exhibition during the spring of 2024, in collaboration with 10 D.C.-Maryland-Virginia-area high schools. This 2024-2025 school year, we are leveraging our regional and international connections to organize an online, global exhibition for the spring of 2025.

The past decades have seen a surge in attention to youth mental health, with statistics and reports painting a concerning picture. As high schoolers, we often saw conversations about the challenges teens face stay at a surface level marked by a lack of understanding of lived experiences. Further, In many places, mental health remains taboo, and stigma continues to limit important conversations. We launched this initiative to bring art into the conversation, empowering youth to share personal, intimate pieces to further more meaningful understanding.

Our Team

JL Chretien

Co-Founder, Sidwell Friends School

Astrid Virk

Co-Founder, Sidwell Friends School

We're JL and Astrid, two high school Juniors at Sidwell Friends who found a shared passion for art and mental health awareness. For us, painting and drawing have been outlets for navigating life's stress and unpredictability. After a fellow student from the DMV reached out about collaborating with other local schools, we were inspired to create a regional exhibition focused on “Identity and Intersectionality,” celebrating the diversity of our community.

That summer, Astrid participated in a program with students from 150 countries. Through conversations with peers from around the world and watching a capstone project centered around mental health, she was struck by how mental health is perceived and discussed differently across cultures. This led her to understand how mental health is a universal issue, though it's often seen as taboo in some places.

Later that summer, JL and Astrid went on a school cultural immersion trip to China, where they connected with local teenagers and adults. The experience helped reinforce the idea that, while cultures may approach mental health in different ways, they are all united by shared human struggles. It made us realize how important it is to include diverse perspectives in the conversation around mental health. Just as art transcends cultural boundaries, so too does mental health. This affirmed our decision to expand Art for Minds internationally and invite artists around the world to explore how mental health intersects with their cultural identities and creative expression. We hope that by encouraging conversations around mental health, we can help make peace and fulfillment more accessible to everyone.