The Piece of Mind program engages individuals in the early to middle-stages of Alzheimer's through interactive tours and art-making experiences. Specially trained docents highlight themes, artists and special exhibitions during tours that encourage dialogue and personal connections with the artwork on view. Afterwards, an art-therapist facilitates related, hands-on projects. 

The Brooks’ Piece of Mind program is modeled on the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) highly acclaimed Meet Me at MoMA, and last year Amir Parsa, Manager of the MoMA Alzheimer's Project, lead a workshop for Brooks’ docents and staff on dementia as well as on strategies and techniques for facilitating meaningful and thought-provoking experiences for visitors with Alzheimer’s. The museum now offers free monthly tours on select Tuesday mornings, when the museum is closed to the public. Piece of Mind provides a safe and non-threatening environment and offers people with this degenerative disease an expressive outlet and forum for dialogue.

Such programs have shown that the act of looking at and creating art can be rich and satisfying experiences for people with dementia. Ruth Abraham, Senior Lecturer in Art Therapy at the Beit Berl School of Art in Israel, states that since there is no effective long-term treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, it is essential to find stimulating ways to enhance the lives of those stricken with the dementia. Such programs do not stop memory loss,” writes Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Margaret Sewell. However, they can improve a person’s quality of life, jog their long-term memory, or improve symptoms of Alzheimer's. "It lowers their depression, it lowers their symptoms of agitation, it increases their self-esteem." 

To view the Memphis Brooks Museum of Arts' calendar of events, please click here.