ART GALLERY: The work of young survivors

Quaking ground and tumbling buildings. Falling ash and churning waters. Giant waves, sliding hillsides or drought, fire and famine brought on by climate change.

It’s the stuff of nightmares for any human being. The experiences of children, however, can be traumatizing.

Each child whose art or craft appears below has survived a natural disaster. Many saw their homes or schools destroyed. Others lost a parent, caregiver or sibling. Some grieve the friends they’ll never play with again.

The healing touch of art therapy

Around the world, art therapy helps people recover from experiences too overwhelming to put into words.

World Vision Canada’s Christina Cook is one of them. After losing her Dad to cancer five years ago, Christina didn’t feel ready for traditional talk therapy. The verbal expressions simply wouldn’t come.

So, Christina turned to art therapy as a starting point.

“With art, I could express what was in my head and put it on paper as best I could,” she recalls. “Only then could I could have a conversation about my pain.” Drawing and painting gave Christina the power to begin processing right away. She didn’t have to wait until the words came.

Art therapy in World Vision’s work

When natural disasters tear apart children’s realities, experts in our child-friendly spaces are there to help young survivors engage in art therapy. They remove all pressure to “find the words,” while providing a way for girls and boys to begin sharing.

In the immediate aftermath, the pain may tumble onto the page as nothing more than scribbles. Sometimes, the drawings are more explicit: like a person trapped under mud or rubble. Trained experts and World Vision workers stay beside children as they process. No one has to do this alone.

Over time, signs of hope might appear on the page. Brighter markings, happier memories, glimpses of dreams for the future. Once children feel ready to speak, our teams are there to listen and provide gentle counselling.

Welcome to our gallery of hope and healing.

“I want this to be over,” said 10-year-old Yuliana (above) after floodwaters overran 80 per cent of her province in Mexico in 2007. “I want our houses to be fine, our rivers to stay in their places.” Her drawing was the dream of “a nice place” to live, with no floodwaters in view.

Safety to begin healing is what World Vision’s child-friendly spaces are all about. We created the one you see above in the aftermath of a 6.9 earthquake in Cebu, the Philippines, in 2025. It was the deadliest quake the country had seen since 2013. Methodically stringing colourful beads is a gentle, calming activity that gives children space to begin processing terror and loss.

Children may be shaken awake at night when Indonesia's Mount Merapi is set to erupt—and quickly hustled to evacuation centres. It’s unlikely that the child who drew the picture above witnessed the actual event. But living in the shadow of the volcanic giant, they would have grown up seeing the cruel results of its activity. This volcano erupts frequently.

In Cambodia, 15-year-old Lyhour explored his grief around climate change and deforestation (above.) “Once there is rain, the rainwater is useless because of the polluted climate,” he said, of his “before and after” picture. Due to the other losses children experience through natural disasters, it’s easy to overlook the psychological impact of lost beauty in their surroundings.

“Tolong, tolong!” cry the little figures in this picture—or “help, help!” These are the memories of 10-year-old Ramadan after a giant tsunami wave crashed down on his Indonesian shoreline community in 2004. It flooded the land and dragged homes and people out to sea. For thousands of children in south and south-east Asia, art therapy was part of the healing journey.

Art therapy in this child-friendly space (above) happened in the rubble of a devastating 7.9 earthquake in Nepal in 2015. Our staff prompted children to “draw a place that makes you feel safe.” Spending time with thoughts of peace and refuge helps girls and boys overcome the horror of a real-life violent catastrophe.

Hurricane Stan barreled across Central America and Mexico in 2005, leaving half a million people homeless. There’s no record of whether this child (above) drew his dreams for the future, or his recollections of the past. But it was interesting to see how many girls and boys chose secure homes as their subject matter.

One year after the 2010 earthquake rocked Haiti, art therapy remained critical to children’s recovery. Thousands were still living in tents, grieving the loss of friends, family and teachers. Expressing hope through vibrant colours helped many children visualize brighter futures. Here, drying in the sunshine, are paintings of hope amidst the rubble.

Children in the Philippines made “wish boats” (above) to float in swollen rivers, after super typhoon Haiyan tore through their communities in 2013. They covered the boats with pictures and words of hope, like homes repaired and families together and happy. The super typhoon killed 6,300 people and left 11 million people homeless.

Hours later, children released their wish boats into the Bagongbong River (above.) “It’s a way of sending off the children’s prayers after Typhoon Haiyan," said a school principal who participated in the activity.

Whether in natural disaster contexts or others, art therapy can’t banish fear, anger, heartache and loss. But people of all ages find it helpful. Illustrating their pain makes it visible to others.

And documenting dreams makes them easier to visualize as possible.