VISION
We believe that within each person resides an untapped potential and creative spirit that when given the opportunity will manifest itself and help create a path to healing and recovery.

MISSION
We seek to reveal and spark that creative spirit and help make it manifest. We seek to provide the opportunity and environment where persons who are dealing with mental health issues, and their supportive allies, can discover the potential that is common to us all, but unique to each person.

OBJECTIVES

• To provide a safe and nurturing community where people with mental health issues and their supportive allies are empowered through self-expression and the arts.
• To create healthy communities by building bridges to the mental health, business and arts sectors by developing strong community partnerships, by heightening awareness and by eliminating stigma.
• To enable people with mental health issues to learn, develop and apply new skills so that they can contribute to their communities.
• To create a community where all citizens are recognized and applauded for their gifts and talents. To promote quality of life, dignity and respect.

By Judith Rosenberg, Founder

In 1998 my son Jay Lefler, then 31 years of age, experienced an acute psychotic episode and was hospitalized for several weeks in a Toronto psychiatric facility. Years before, Jay had graduated from high school as an Ontario Scholar and went on to study Fine Arts at the University of Toronto where he advanced from first- to third-year studio art studies. This was to be his last major success for some time, as his higher education was interrupted by the symptoms of a pre-existing mental health condition that remained undiagnosed until he was in his mid 30's.

While in hospital in 1998, it became apparent that Jay had lost his grasp of reality along with his artistic memory, both of which had vanished in a maze of psychosis and paranoia. Furtive attempts to inspire him failed miserably. A large collage of photographs of his life depicting happier times - fishing as a little boy side by side with his loving grandfather, costume parties and family dinners - hung on his hospital room wall, only to end up with scrawled, incomprehensible, messages and phrases to the aliens, written during frightened times.

On my long drives from Guelph to Toronto and back to visit my son who was being kept in a zombie-like state, I searched my brain to find a means to reach past his horror and touch his soul. Finally, he showed some interest in a sketchpad and charcoals I was able to smuggle past the daily inspection, and as he began to put down thick black smudges that eventually became life drawings of other patients on his ward, I knew that my son would be back.

When he discharged himself, long before he had completed the full hospital process of moving from highly secure ward, to more open concept, to becoming an outpatient, I could only support him and trust that somewhere deep within his recesses, he still knew what was right for him, so I brought him "home" to Guelph and away from the frenetic, derelict, environment of Toronto's downtown core.

Here, in the simple, quiet life we created together, Jay regained his passion for painting and has since become an accomplished artist with many exhibitions to his credit. In 1999 he returned to college to complete his studies in graphic art and now works from his studio called "Golden Brain" located in the heart of downtown Guelph. He has been employed by a well-known psychiatric facility as a website designer and by a mental health organization as its Regional Liaison to speak out about the importance of mental health awareness.

I have come to understand, through the journey I share with my son, that others living with mental health concerns can experience healing, and even recovery, through their own form of creativity and self-expression.

While the model for SPARK OF BRILLIANCE is based on one young man's challenging story, the initiative is possible only through the dedicated efforts of the many artists, writers, poets, musicians, dancers and teachers who facilitate creative workshops, as well as through the steadfast support of community partners, sponsors and government. I have learned, too, that the road to wellness does not travel in only one direction. With two steps forward and one step back, recovery can become a reality.