Creative connections.

Seated in front of a group of children, Alan Steckler points at a colorful drawing hanging on the wall. Around him are children from three different countries. They have never met before, and will soon return home.

Like a teacher, Steckler asks the group, "Tell me what you see in this picture." The students hesitate at first, not really knowing what he means.

The drawing was created by a child living in Kuwait. It shows a boat and three people. "What are the people doing?" Steckler encourages. A net is hanging off the boat's side, and fish are swimming below. "They are fishing," one student replies.

"And who are these people?" Steckler prods. It looks like a man and two boys. The class agrees that it is probably a father with his two children.

"Is that a scene you might see in your country?" Steckler asks the children. "Do you do jobs or chores with your family?" He encourages the children to think of their own life and culture, and compare it with the one pictured by the child artist. "Does your family depend on you to help get food or money for survival?"

Steckler is teaching the children to be cultural detectives. By guessing at what is going on in a piece of art, the children can try to learn something about the artist's culture, or way of life.

The kids then look below the artwork to inspect a photo of the child artist, along with a brief description of the young artist's likes, dislikes, and family life. "Getting to know the artist is as important as getting to know the art," Steckler feels.

Children are often surprised by the little things they observe in the exchanged art. For example, why is the grandmother living with her children and grandchildren? She's not living by herself. Sometimes they are simply amazed at how skilled the artists from other countries are.

Creative Connections, a Connecticut (USA) nonprofit that uses art to enhance cultural awareness among children, provided this workshop. They were invited along with other organizations to attend the 2004 International VSA arts Festival in Washington, DC. VSA arts (formerly called Very Special Arts) is a non-profit that utilizes the arts to, among other things, enhance the education of children with disabilities.

Entitled Explaining World Cultures Through Art, the workshop brought together children from Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and the United States. Art became the common language.

"It's very exciting, to see the eyes of young people light up when you're working with them," says Steckler. He founded Creative Connections after realizing that children in many different countries had much to learn about and appreciate in faraway cultures. Soon, organizations and schools were requesting the services of Steckler's group.

Artwork studied in the workshop came from the organization's ArtLink program, through which classes of young artists around the world create and exchange sets of art. When deciding the art set's content, children have to ask themselves, "What makes up my country, my culture,? What do I want those other children to learn about me and my everyday life?

Not only is art fun, but kids learn to enjoy it with children from other countries. "The children are equal to one another," Steckler adds. "Whether they have more money, are from a developing country, or have much simpler art supplies, the ideas they have are equally valid and important."

"They come away with a greater knowledge and appreciation of the world, and a desire to travel and meet people of different cultures."