It's not art therapy – it's a museum of contemporary art.

If you walk into the Living Museum thinking you're going to see "art therapy" with people coloring pictures and making clay ashtrays, think again. You are entering a museum. This giant space, formerly housing the kitchen and dining hall of Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, New York, is filled with a dazzling array of modern art. That the artists are also coping with mental illness is secondary here.

Funded by Creedmoor, a New York State Office of Mental Health psychiatric center, the Living Museum was started 14 years ago by the late Bolek Greczynski, a Polish artist, with help from Dr. Janos Marton. Dr. Marton, who has a doctorate in psychology and a master's degree in fine arts, has been the director of the museum over the years, about 30 are working here currently.

Suffering from mental illness can generate creativity in some people, says Dr. Marton. The creativity comes when people are less inhibited by the rules of society. They're completely free to express themselves artistically.

According to Dr. Marton, the Living Museum is a place where people come together to celebrate art. Modern art is about breaking rules. Here, there is freedom from convention. Everyone fits in. Everyone has something to say. And personal expression helps play a positive role in one's self-esteem and recovery.

The art at the Living Museum runs the gamut from representations of the mind in a psychotic state to the intensely political to the downright amusing. Some works were created using old outdated kitchen equipment left on the premises, and some were created from found objects, such as discarded musical equipment, suitcases, old furniture, and tree trunks. There's the twice life-size statue of a man, made entirely from water bottles, which carries the witty and appropriate title "Body Fluids."

The goal is for people to start as inpatients and progress to living in the community. Dr. Marton feels that people begin to get better the moment they think of themselves as artists instead of patients. In the "mainstream" world, pain and suffering is thought to be a catalyst for art. It's no different for the artists at Creedmoor, except that their struggles with illness and stigma increase their pain and suffering many times over.

In the Living Museum, people are able to express themselves, to create something worthwhile – it's like going to a job. Karen Schechter, the Director of Community Relations, is part of an administration that is uniquely sensitive to and supportive of the artists in their midst. Recognizing how important an expressive outlet is for the recovery process, art is integrated into rehabilitation at Creedmoor. It is an important part of the treatment plans for both inpatients and outpatients.

Janos Marton and Karen Schechter hope that administrations at other hospitals will recognize the positive role of art in mental wellness and that they'll create their own Living Museums. For information on visiting the Living Museum, or on how to get such a program started in your area, call Janos Marton or Karen Schechter at 718-264-3490 or 718-264-3670.