Exploring Children's Freedom of Expression through Art

In 1989, world leaders made an historic commitment to the world’s children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – an international agreement on childhood. It’s become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped transform children’s lives around the world. 

The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that access to the arts and the freedom to express are rights of children (Article 13 and Article 31). Art and the expressive languages are provocative. They can spark new thinking in others.

Adriana Hollenbeck, Head of The Experiential School, and Experiential School Lead Teachers have been exploring research developed by Shorecrest in collaboration with Avenues School in São Paulo through the Innovative Early Childhood program at the University of Colorado. Provocation cards with examples of expressive language experiences in the early years have been analyzed by small groups of teachers. Adriana is gathering the insights and learning about their experiences in the different grade contexts.  

The intention is to discover how the cards can inspire the inclusion and further development of materials and languages as teachers plan for their work alongside children. They will continue to gather impressions of the teachers and document their voice around children’s rights to expressive languages. This study will illuminate the voices of children and their educators who can be change agents around the human right to expressive languages.