Kids & Art Foundation

Kids & Art is truly an amazing organization. I have been volunteering with them for the past three years, and it is so inspiring and worthwhile to be able to directly impact these children. I remember this one time when volunteering at the Pixar Destination Workshop, my station was in charge of making shaving cream art. While this was extremely messy, with shaving cream getting everywhere and anywhere, the looks of joys on the kids' faces made the food coloring stains that would not leave my hands for three days worth it. I have also been volunteering at the Superhero Fun Run, where we watch kids be superheroes for one day. I have worked on doing facepaint as well as helping make beaded keychains and it is amazing to see the creativity these kids can show. Overall, Kids & Art is a truly exemplary organization, and its mission is so heartwarming to witness in action. You can really see the impact you have on these terminally ill children and I recommend that if you can help out in any way, you definitely should!

What an incredible organisation. Kids and Art epitomises the ethos of providing support ‘for’ ‘by’ ‘with’ kids and their care givers. I am incredibly grateful to be part of the organisation. It is all about the whole child, healing using art. I have seen the positive impact their support has on kids with cancer and their care givers. They are able to experience control again and us and the care givers the power of their smile. Carry on the brilliant work!

I couldn't speak more highly of this organization and how they are truly changing the lives of children battling cancer and their families. After volunteering and experiencing first hand the amount of joy that a simple art project brings to the kids is amazing and warms your heart. Conducting crafts in the waiting rooms of the hospital allows parents to keep there little ones busy while waiting for their appointment and helps create a more fun environment for the child as a doctors visit can be difficult. I continue to look forward to any opportunity I can volunteer at the hospital or give back through supply donations.

I often used art activities to keep my son physically active and mentally engaged during his cancer treatment. Later, during an outpatient visit, we noticed a workshop being conducted by Kids & Art. From then on my son has participated in both their hospital outpatient workshops and the wonderful events that they organize throughout the community. The diversity of their projects and events has served my son throughout developmental transitions and their experienced staff have been a support to both him and our family. Kids & Arts' focus on creative child-centered activity has helped to reduce my son's stress during treatments and gave him special expressive experiences outside of the hospital. I continue to be grateful and inspired by the hard work of Kids & Art and their dedication to children with cancer, survivors, and their families.

Walks the talk. Great cause. Passionate people committed to fulfilling the mission.

I was looking to volunteer with a nonprofit that would mesh my love of art, teaching and philanthropy. Kids & Art has exceeded my expectations and has become a highlight of my week. Being able to create art with courageous children and offer them a little distraction as they face the most difficult circumstances is beyond incredible. I can't speak more highly of this great nonprofit and the kind-hearted people I have met in my time there.

A warm team that brings so much love and healing to the kids. This team and the work they do needs a great applause. My work as a volunteer with them is humbling and satisfying.
Big thanks to all

We came to know about Kids & Art Foundation 1.5 years ago, and since then we've attended every single monthly art workshop. Our 8 year old girl absolutely LOVES them! Not only is it a safe space to take children in treatment, but it’s a fun space where kids can just be kids and relax, without worrying about their treatments / scars. The joy on their faces says it all! Huge thanks to Purvi, Suzanne and the wonderful team of volunteers at Kids & Art for helping children (and families) with cancer.

Our daughter Suri who is a brain tumor survivor has been participating pretty much all activities in Kids & Art Foundation throughout years. It's hard to imagine that she would miss any session for doing something else. Every session has been so well planned and staff is super friendly and welcoming. I guess definitely our daughter feels valued, achieved and proud each every time. In fact she has chosen to become a fashion designer when grown up says how much she is benefited and impacted by kids & and Art Foundation.
Thank you so so much for providing such a wonderful program!
Best regards,
Ying & Suri

Kids & Art is a great non-profit. It brings smiles to kids and helps ease out the pain, anxiety for kids going through a tough phase in their life. It pairs kids with professional artists who get together and create art. Art heals and helps the kids be kids. I have enjoyed volunteering with Kids & Art and now proud to be on their board to help take it to the next level.

I have seen Kids & Art at action in both hospital environment (UCSF) and in their destination workshops. The effect is amazing. The collaboration between professional artists and the kids is healing and positive to both. As an artist volunteer I felt rewarded and inspired by the kids, who despite their medical condition are able to enjoy the creativity, relax and just be kids.

I am touched to see kids, perhaps tentative at first approach, dive into the art project once the artist engages with them. The kids’ focus and creative energy is inspiring.

The sense of well being the kids achieve doing art is integral to their health and healing process and should be considered a part of the cancer treatment plan.

Kids & Art has been bringing this healing power to kids for 10 years.

Among the wonderful non-profit organizations in the greater Bay Area, Kids & Art is definitely a standout. The organization and its volunteers give tirelessly to ensure that children with cancer and their care circles benefit from the healing power of art. Art is truly therapeutic. Studies show that arts and creative expression improve the well-being of cancer patients and their care circles. Kids & Art brings this holistic healing to patients and their families and care circles to improve their well-being during treatment, as survivors and in bereavement. Great job Kids & Art!

Kids & Art is such a wonderful addition to our pediatric waiting rooms at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital! Clinic lobbies can often be a space filled with boredom, worry, and anxiety, but with Kids & Art present the space is transformed. Patients and their families are encouraged to take part in a creative activity and have fun together! Thank you Kids & Art for contributing to a healing environment with creative expression.

I've been volunteering with Kids & Art for almost two years. It has utilized my background in healthcare along with my love of Art. I've done everything from managing a hospital workshop to being the lead artist (planning the art project and teaching to kids & other volunteers) to being an assistant to the lead artist and helping the kids make art. Watching how the kids get lost in the moment and focusing only on the art they are creating, is a gift!

I have an amazing time each time I volunteer for Kids and Art Foundation. I'm mainly volunteering at Sanford Hospital. It's great meeting all the new volunteers and the kids and their families. The staff at Kids and Art Foundation are really dedicated to providing a positive & memorable experience.

In this world full of tragic stories of children touched by cancer, Kids & Art Foundation spreads cheer and healing through their invaluable work. What can be more beautiful than a kid engrossed in creating a painting, a collage, a pot, digital art or craft... forgetting for some time the shock of diagnosis, the pain of treatment, the arduous path ahead. The positive energy the artists and kids create together is important in healing... in keeping spirits up... and spreading smiles when tears often cloud the eyes. Kudos to Purvi Shah and her team at Kids & Art Foundation!

Kids & Art is an inspired, compassionate non profit organisation , treating its volunteers with care & thoughtfulness. As an artist, I enjoyed my time spent with the children struggling with cancer treatments. Just a great team relieving some of the pain and suffering children and their families experience in time of sickness!
Cécile Picard

Wonderful organization!!! We make art with kids in the hospital waiting room, or at destination workshops. We really make a difference.

As the Art Gallery Coordinator at the San Mateo Public Library, I was able to work with Kids & Art Foundation to provide a venue for them to exhibit the art created by the participants in the program. Everyone who saw the exhibit was very impressed with the work on display and greatly moved by the organization's mission.

I began volunteering a year ago with Kids & Art. I had recently retired from my career in health care working with oncology patients & now doing my watercolor art full time. When I learned of Kids & Art, it was a perfect coming together of my background & love for art. Little did I know what joy it would bring to me at this time in my life. Joy in seeing children & parents stepping away from the anxiety of their situation & enjoying some moments of creation, silliness, and peace.

I've enjoyed volunteering with Kids & Art. The kids and parents that they serve are always so thankful for the programming and the staff is wonderful to work with.

This organization has been wonderful to work with! They are very organized and supportive and truly want to offer something meaningful, fun and inspiring to the children and their parents in the hospital waiting room. I have had only good experiences working with them and am so happy that they exsit!!!

This is an exuberant and energetic corps of volunteers, all-ages welcome at Kids & Art . I'm impressed with the people I've worked alongside and of course our founder, both by their talent and accomplishments and by their warmth. We come together to collaborate on projects of all kinds, and we help spread our common concern to others through a culture of kindness—focusing on families with children touched by cancer.

I'm impressed as well with the growth and expansion we’ve seen of late in working out the kinks and developing better systems for training and preparing volunteers for each of our weekly waiting room workshops/clinic visits. There is a lot of work that goes into preparing the workshop teams—scheduling, finding the right people, making sure they know where to go, how to follow hospital procedures, and how to interact with this special population inside a healthcare facility. In our destination workshops, organization is key, as well, and these community events, take a lot of coordination smarts and logistical intelligence, too, which our coordinator and founder pull off super well. (Commendable, really!)

After three and a half years of being one of many signing up at local art spaces for destination workshops, casually at first, for the destination workshops, then with a little more commitment and training as an artist assistant at Lucile Packard hospital, and more recently at the UCSF Benioff children's hospital in San Francisco, I've seen a lot of adorable little hands and sweet children. Most seem so happy just to be presented with the opportunity to do something else than sit anxiously. We go into oncology outpatient waiting rooms at the medical facilities and are there to help make the time before procedures a little easier.

It is always interesting to see what K&A artists bring; whatever it is, the kids make what they want--it really doesn't matter. What matters is that they become engaged in art making. Part of the interest is seeing what they come up with when given the materials.

It feels like being a pop up art shop; but there you are in an oncology clinic waiting room, which sounds heavy but it isn't really something you dwell on. You are there to help transform that space. You are there to somehow soften the mood, and you know you are in a real life situation with kids facing something really hard, but it ends up for the most part being light, playful and convivial. Kids like to make art; we are there to encourage them to indulge in free-spirited expressiveness.

So, with this, I'd say that all participants –even the volunteers--in the Kids & Art workshops get a little soulful boost from being there together. It's about building something in common, it’s about collaborating--with the kids at the table, with the community of Bay Area art organizations and community volunteers that come on board; and over time, we build relationships based on each person being an individual giving something and getting something.

This is the soul of what Kids & Art does, and I've always found it a joy to be in on it. Those who find solace in the arts really do find a kind of kindred connection with us, it seems. And, even those who aren't 'arty' get to feel better helping out with the many tasks that go into putting on these workshops. Emphasis on many!

This is a good group of people trying to do good and doing so with modest resources, so I've been pleased that the K&A team is growing and that they are being more recognized in their field and in the Bay Area.

I have been helping with Kids & Art for almost 10 years. I am always inspired by the courage of the children and the generosity of the artists and volunteers. I leave each session with a sense of fulfillment and inner peace that I have contributed this amazing organization. Kids & Art truly touch the lives of not only the children they serve, but the parents, siblings, care circle, volunteers and donors.

Kids and Art is an amazing organization that focuses on the well-being and spirit of a child along with their care circle. It is refreshing to see an organization that recognizes the whole child and not just the disease. They realize that in order to successfully beat any illness, one needs to be mentally and emotionally strong and needs to include the care circle as well. Kids and Art give a sense of being normal to kids who are struggling for survival. Their workshops and unlike any others where kids work side by side with the artists doing some incredible projects from painting to glass work to fashion. The added plus is that the workshops are held in really cool places like Pixar, and Google to name a couple and are put on by people who really care and who want to be a positive force in a child's life.
The UCSF and Lucile Packard waiting room workshops are god-sent for parents. There is not better way to relieve anxiety and the stress of an oncology appointment than by having a creative outlet.
I have seen the positive impact Kids and Art makes in peoples lives and I only wish for our medical establishments to adopt such integrated care of well-being in all of health care.

Kids & Art Foundation is a great program that gives pediatric cancer patients and their families amazing experiences in different venues throughout the Bay Area! The patients and their siblings get to participate and create fun and creative art projects. The kids always get to take something home to remember their fun -filled day. With so many difficult days of hospital stays, surgeries and treatments. It is so special to be in this wonderful positive environment creating art!

I have been volunteering with Kids & Art for the last 10 months and it has been an amazing experience! We go into local hospitals to do art projects with children who have cancer. I look forward to going to the workshops because the kids are sweet and the parents tell the most amazing stories. It is a real privilege to be able to bring these creative experiences to these children because it helps make their day easier. The people who run Kids & Art are so kind and they encourage you to bring in your own ideas too! I’m so glad I found Kids & Art!

What I love about Kids and Art is that it is from the heart and focuses on a forgotten part of a child's (and family's) journey through cancer - finding an outlet to express your emotions while finding that creativity that is in all of us. The spark of creating art, in ways that challenge a condition, focus on a hopeful future, or simply express ones inner self, can bring some light into an often trying period for the whole family. To see a kid's face light up as the display their finished work is amazing.

Kids & Art is an amazing nonprofit and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. There is so much intention in every program that's been developed to serve families experiencing pediatric cancer, and every time I work with them I am inspired. We get to bring joy and fun in the form of art projects to kids who really need and want to just explore, have fun and be a kid. Parents often participate too, and the workshops are grounding, and a stress relieving space to unwind and center. So glad to have found this beautiful nonprofit!

I am blessed to be part of this organization and to have the opportunity to serve. As a volunteer helping at the workshops, my best moment at the most recent event was when I heard a little child scream out in joy "I love Kids&Art." To see such happiness in children and their families means everything. Thanks!

I have yet to come across a more wonderful and coherent foundation such as Kids & Art Foundation. The team is ambitious, dedicated, & supportive by all means. Their mission is solid & noble, its successes are evident through the smiles they bring the children they engage with. We cannot wait to co-create workshops together for the children & contribute to children's joy and happiness

I have had the honor of being associated with this amazing organization for the last few years. They are single minded in their mission to provide comfort and strength to children and families affected by cancer. I have volunteered at their weekend art workshoips, annual art auction and various other events and the committment and passion is like no other. I also value how they educate the larger community on how they can contribute both in person and kind to families going through the ordeal of cancer.

Every time I volunteer with Kids & Art, I become more in awe of what they do. The happiness and joy they bring to children with cancer, families affected by child cancer and even medical professionals working with childhood cancer is magnetic. Smiling is something many of us may take for granted, but smiles become more rare when you have childhood cancer in your life. Seeing the smilies on people who haven't smiled in ages is one of the greatest joys one can experience. I feel honored to be part of such an incredible organization.

Kids & Arts Foundation heals souls and spirits in a very special way. My daughter and I have been involved in a small capacity as part of this greater cause that focuses on healing through art. Seeing the spirits of the impacted kids and families genuinely come alive in the form of creative expression through art forms was deeply satisfying to my soul. Being part of the most recent workshop on 'Remembrance' was a journey of spiritual development for both of us, in our own ways, at our own pace. Thank you for providing the opportunity to service humanity!

Kids and Art is a very special place. It is a place to heal the soul, thoughts and create new things. Children and art make Kids and Art is a unique and special for all those who have been touched by cancer. It is a place to share feelings, anxieties and to find the strength to keep fighting and to trust in the future .

Kids and Art is a fantastic cause with a purpose so unconditional. Something as simple as 'being there' for the kids with cancer and giving a sense of empowerment and therapy in the form of art is a cause worthy of support. Great job!!

What a fantastic organization. My daughter and I are proud to help support Kids & Art. They had a terrific day in San Mateo at Summerfest. We were proud to be volunteers. Please donate or find time to volunteer towards this effort. Cancer touches all of us....art helps to heal.
~ Jeannette Simmons Jr.

I reported via blog and San Mateo Patch on their workshop events, once held for bereaved families at a Art Coop studio in RWC and another time for the young artists, a popular workshop held at Google. At each of the workshops, I was struck by the positive energy of hope and faith - of light despite the perceived darkness of battles they are waging with a deadly disease that afflicts so many. I think all of us have been affected directly or know somebody who too is fighting for survival against this disease. So we can come to appreciate a service organization like this that truly serves with compassion and kindness. Through art and sometimes through other mediums such as poetry, their workshops get to the core of serving the needs of kids and their families affected by cancer, while giving the local artists the opportunity to be involved in the educational process. When kids are absorbed by the creative undertaking at hand, there's an avenue for relief as they are reminded of the joy in living in the moment to moment. That's the best gift one can give to those brave kids fighting for their life. This is a great organization that really meets each kid at where they are at.

I've thoroughly enjoyed volunteering with Kids&Art. It is such a great foundation that brings beautiful creativity to children and families battling cancer. The workshops Kids&Art hosts bring a small respite to these families and at the same time creates lasting memories. The founders of K&A are just truly wonderful people, committed to making a difference.

Our company sought a charity to support and partner with for a one-time event. After researching and talking with a list of non-profits we selected Kids & Art Foundation for a variety of reasons: passion, commitment, service, dedication, and the impact currently being made but with some help could expand to deliver their vision and mission even further. While we thought that this may be a one-time event, I do believe we will be looking at future opportunities throughout the company as they present themselves. Personally, I know that I will be supporting them with time, talent, or treasure in the future.

Kids & Art is a great organization. My son has been attending Kids & Art workshops for over a year. These workshops have helped kindle a love for painting and art which has helped him get through some very difficult days during his treatment. The experience has been very encouraging and healing. My son looks forward to Kids and Art events every month. Thanks to all the artist volunteers and organizers- you are making a difference in our children’s lives!! I am so touched by this organization that I have started volunteering with them too.

I am very thankful that I found Kids and Art, or that Kids and Art found me. I started as a guest artist painting with kids touched by cancer. It was deeply moving to see kids forget about their dreaded disease and enjoy being a happy normal kid expressing and creating on canvases. I now volunteer as a program director coordinating artists with children. I am honored to be with a organization that makes a difference in the lives of children and their families.

I have been volunteering with Kids & Art from the very beginning. It was my mom who started Kids & Art and at the time, I didn't really understand much about it. But after seeing all the kids who come in, they always leave with a smile and something to remember. I will definitely continue to volunteer and anyone reading this review who wants to help, should do the same.

I first came to Kids & Art as a volunteer and blogger hearing from a friend (volunteer artist) of the inspiring and safe place provided. Nearly a year with Kids & Art, meeting the families and seeing the faces of the children light up, you realize really who wouldn't? With melting crayons, paint on your hands, and the power to create your world, Kids & Art provides a memorable experience to be shared with the child, siblings, family, and their community.

I volunteered for Kids & Art as an artist. It was an incredible experience. I think Kids & Art created for the kids as well as their parents the best an artist could offer - an oasis of peace and vibrant creativity, an escape into a world that is free and filled with possibilities. I saw the kids not as patients but as artists, and they responded by eagerly getting to the projects, sharing, through paintings on tiles, their passions for favorite animals, their quirky minds by drawing fun subject matters an using their imagination, by connecting to the world through a different language,the language of color and shape.

Our son passed away after six courageous years of fighting leukemia. During this time, art became a big part of his life and a means of empowerment and self-expression. Kids & Art gave him an opportunity to create and smile even when he was in the hospital or between chemotherapies. Now some of the art work he created are the most precious memories we have of him. Thank you for the very important work you are doing.

Kids and Art is a fantastic non profit charity that makes an actual difference on the ground. They don't only work with children affected by cancer but also provide the support to siblings and family members which is exceptionally important and effective. For example their workshops in the hospital waiting room is an amazing idea as they help keep kids and families occupied alleviating any anxiety associated with waiting between treatments or appointments. The charity continues to be creative and innovative and I am confident it will go from strength to strength.

M shah

Kids and Art is an incredible organization that reaches out to kids, and their families, who need the support of the entire village to cope with the most serious and devastating health challenges. It truly gives an opportunity for these special people to have a safe haven of creativity and "normalcy" in the midst of their lives, which are filled with medical treatments, hospitals, unknowns, searches for cures, hopes, set backs, and much much more.

Once you experience a child or family going through this challenge you never forget, and want to help in any way possible, with anything really ... and it all still feels like a drop in the bucket. Kids and Art is where one experiences the efforts of so many people whose sole goal is to bring beauty and creativity to their community. Once you see it, you always want to be among them making a difference.

It has been an honor to not only see this organization soar to become such an important resource in our community, but also to support the amazing efforts of so many selfless and tireless supporters. After all, it does take a village, the entire village.

I had the honor of working with Kids & Art for the period during its inception. My time with Kids & Art was a defining and rewarding period in my life. It was extremely touching seeing the artists and children work so closely together. They shared a creative connection that produced unique pieces of artwork. The children and artists equally inspired each other. Their symbiotic friendships were depicted in the outcome of their magical art creations.

I saw the children enjoying themselves, as their minds were preoccupied with creating. Some of the children were so surprised that they had an artistic talent. They were proud of their finished pieces and were encouraged to continue creating art in their future.

The organization has grown tremendously in the years and has expanded its outreach. K&A continues to touch many people's lives.