Sri Lanka, June 2006

Courtesy of Kids Earth Fund, Japan

Look at a child’s painting and you can see the seeds of their universe. Art opens doors to creative self-expression and awareness, and it can also be a means of emotional support and therapy. For troubled children, especially those facing the difficulties of poverty, natural disasters or war, art can be a tool through which they release trauma. Art therapy for children is not new, but Kids Earth Fund (KEF), a Tokyo-based NPO, has established an innovative canvas of opportunity that combines art, emotional support and self-help—kids helping kids through art.

Now in its 19th year and active in over 30 countries, KEF creates opportunities for children to create art, and then uses these works for a host of kid-focused support programs. The NPO generates income from the children’s artistic creations via a corporate-focused art leasing program, sales from goods like T-shirts, mugs and Christmas cards. This is combined with charity fundraisers, donations and exhibitions, which all goes to support KEF programs like Kids Earth Homes, the Kids Earth Car, donations of medical and educational supplies, art workshops and more.

“It’s difficult for companies to donate money directly to NPOs like us, so our art leasing program is a good way for them to make a kind of donation,” says KEF’s Makiko Nagata. “Among our sponsors, most seem to be foreign companies where charity is considered part of the corporate culture. And although we are small, companies can trust our activities because we provide detailed financial reports.” Nagata adds that tickets are now available (and will sell out quickly) for KEF’s annual fundraising party on Friday, September 28, at the Chateau Restaurant Joel Robuchon in Yebisu Garden Place.

KEF exhibitions have been held in some remarkable venues, including the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Upcoming exhibitions in Japan will be held at the Suntory Museum of Art in Osaka (October 26-November 13) and the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (October 21-28.) For KEF’s 20th anniversary next year, the group is planning an exhibition at venues around the world where they will display a large tapestry-like collage of children’s paintings.

Pakistan, June 2007

Courtesy of Kids Earth Fund, Japan

KEF is the brainchild of Harumi Torii, who was inspired to establish the fund in 1988 after opening a preschool to offer her son an alternative early education that emphasized volunteerism and social consciousness. Torii noticed that the children’s art at the preschool often reflected messages of “peaceful coexistence and environmental care,” she says. With this ideal in mind, Torii began collecting artwork from children around the world. Her first travels, to places like Chernobyl and war-ravaged Rwanda and Croatia, brought her face-to-face with children desperate for physical and emotional help. This cemented her resolve to carry on the KEF mission “so that one day all children everywhere can live in a safe environment where they are free to draw and paint and enjoy the wonders of life.”

The first Kids Earth Home was opened in 1996 in Topsuko, Croatia, where the group still offers counseling and workshops. Other KEH facilities include a tuition-free elementary school and a home for orphans and street children in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2004, the group opened a facility in Tokyo that provides emotional support and art workshops.

Another Japan-based activity is the Kids Earth Car (KEC), a van that’s brightly decorated with children’s paintings and travels throughout the country. Volunteers associated with KEF, including artists, musicians and other performers, have brought smiles to the faces of over 1,000 emotionally needy children through projects and workshops at hospitals, schools and orphanages. Recent international activities include art workshops held for about 100 children at schools in isolated areas of Pakistan hard hit by earthquakes last June. “Although there has been financial support from the rest of the world, we had something unique to offer the children,” says Nagata.

Nagata adds that although her friends are making big salaries at banks and consulting companies, she has no regrets about the path she’s taken. “I love children’s artwork and their smiles and really enjoy working with children all over the world,” she says. “My grandparents in particular have always been interested in supporting children, so even though I go to dangerous places, my family supports me and is proud of what I am doing.”

KEF’s annual fundraising party takes place on Friday, September 28, in Ebisu. See community listings for more information. For more information, see www.kidsearthfund.org.