• Silvio Cimenti / THINK Communications, IM GROUP

Chair of IM GROUP Foundation, Alice Guerra, was interviewed recently by Lira Jamaluddin of Malaysia’s THE PEAK magazine on how her art therapy is empowering autistic children to explore art as a form of self-expression and moreover as a means “…to earn a living with” for their future, explains Guerra.

Guerra—known in the international art community as Alice Chang Oi Lai—conducts art workshops for children with special needs and curates exhibitions from her workshops. All funds received from the exhibitions go towards providing vocational skills for the autistic children in orphanages, to increase their work opportunities upon leaving, thus empowering them to be autonomous by earning their own income. The programme currently based in Southeast Asia; around Guerra’s native land, Malaysia, and Indonesia, is an ongoing initiative by IM GROUP, led by Guerra, who affirms, “working with autistic children is an amazing experience. They have their own talents and creative minds, and I have to keep reminding myself that whatever the outcomes, it is their personal self-expression. I am honoured and humbled to be given the opportunity to guide them in creating their own art."

As Guerra explains, we are all responsible for contributing to our society in whatever way possible. 

The recently rebranded IM GROUP (previously Inkmaker Group) has several initiatives within the communities where it operates, on both sides of the hemisphere, where they are not just limited to supporting orphanages with autistic children; “I help where I can or when a cause calls out to me,” concludes the energetic leader of the IM GROUP Foundation."

Photography courtesy of Bonnie Yap.

Read the whole article here:

The Peak Magazine (Malaysia)