This Valentine’s Day saw a rather beautiful, and in some ways unusual, flourishing of community wellbeing at an event held at Eden Court, Inverness, where families and professionals gathered to celebrate the art of children with learning disabilities from across the Highlands.
NHS Highland’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Learning Disabilities team organised the event as part of an ongoing commitment to deepen their understanding of the communities they serve, working collaboratively with families to shape a service able to respond to present needs with creativity and intention.
The exhibition - This is Me - which was on display from 25 January to 26 February 2026, offered several ways of thinking about how a child’s artwork might be curated and, in turn, what aspects of the child becomes visible through that process. One section centred on the creative journeys facilitated by CAMHS art therapists, drawing attention not only to the artwork itself but to the relational courage and vulnerability involved in making art together. Here, the process, the shared space between child and therapist, becomes as meaningful as the finished piece.
Amelia Williamson, Integrative Psychotherapist, said: “Events designed specifically for children with learning disabilities and their families remain rare, particularly within fine art spaces. The afternoon held laughter, play, and creative exploration alongside a quieter willingness to make space for the more complex realities of disability to come into view.
“A local special school contributed class artwork curated around the theme of belonging, allowing optimism and care for emerging identities to come gently into focus. Another school presented montages created collaboratively by a class, visually expressing what holds importance in their everyday lives and offering a shared language through which common interests could be recognised by other young people.
“The flexible event spaces at Eden Court allowed the environment to be shaped thoughtfully, with particular attention given to opportunities for expression beyond speech. Inclusion extended beyond accessibility alone; siblings, parents, carers, and extended family members were intentionally welcomed into the experience, recognised as part of the relational world surrounding each young person.”
Activities reflected this ethos. Hopes and dreams were written or drawn onto hearts and added to a “love tree”; a photo booth was designed with sensitivity to differing sensory and interpersonal needs; performances included the Special Needs Action Project (SNAP) choir alongside a flash mob performance of This Is Me by Performers UK. Elsewhere, a response table invited visitors to create their own artistic reflections using an array of different materials, gently reimagining what meaningful engagement and feedback might look like when participation is accessible to all.
Third-sector organisations, school staff, parents and carers, siblings, extended families, and the young artists themselves attended. Many spoke afterwards of feeling moved - not only by the care taken by CAMHS to create a space of celebration and togetherness, but by the momentary clarity that emerged when art was held with respect: how it can illuminate what matters, allowing personhood, relationship, and community to be seen more fully.
In this way, the exhibition did more than showcase artwork; it offered a glimpse of what services and communities can become when participation, collaboration, creativity, and belonging are valued.