PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. — Children staying in the Pulaski County Juvenile Detention Center are trying out a new kind of therapy.
Through art, they're working through their emotions and feelings and the director said they're already seeing positive results.
Kids will see a mural that states: "my challenges help me grow" on the basketball court at the Pulaski County Juvenile Detention Center from now on and they're helping every step of the way to finish it.
"It gives them a different medium to let out their feelings and their frustrations or their hopes and dreams," Juvenile Detention Center Director Rodney Shepherd said.
One of the artists helping paint the mural is leading sessions with the kids to help build their self-image and confidence.
"She's been coming in here on Thursdays and Fridays doing an hour, hour and a half sessions with kids. It's been going fantastic," Shepherd said.
They're wrapping up the five-week course, but Shepherd said its something they want to bring back in the future.
"Their very first assignment was to think about themselves and then create an emblem that represented themselves. So they molded clay of different colors, and they all created emblems they felt represented who they were and it came out fantastic," he said.
When it comes to the mural on the basketball court, he said they look forward to working on it.
"We've had to make them come inside because they've stayed out too long in the sun," he said.
His goal is to inspire them to make a positive change in their lives when it comes time for them to be released.
"Maybe we just change one. And that one doesn't go out and commit a crime anymore. They go on to graduate and we've had that success here. Last year, we had three kids graduate high school. That was a big deal for us," he said.
Even those staying there in years to come will see the mural and hopefully be inspired to grow.
The mural is very close to being finished and another message will soon be added to state: "don't count the days, make the days count."