Manuel is a 14-year-old boy from the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles who is standing at a crossroads. A lot of his friends are in gangs but he doesn’t want to join them. Instead, he dreams of going to college at Loyola Marymount University. This week, Manuel -- his name has been changed -- is on LMU’s campus to participate in one of many Arts Pro Bono projects, a weeklong art camp for at-risk children. Teachers from Dolores Mission School recommend children to participate in the program. “This is the only place that I can be myself. I don’t have to try to be someone else,” he told his teachers.

LMU’s College of Communication and Fine Arts created the Summer Arts Workshop to help kids like Manuel learn more about themselves. LMU Clinical Art Therapy students and alumni work side-by-side to mentor the participants. They teach the children how to express themselves through painting, drawing and sculpting.

Jessica Bianchi ’08 and Oceana Blueskyes ’08, facilitators of the Summer Arts Workshop, started the program, and for the past three summers have watched children develop confidence and social skills. Before the Summer Arts Workshop, a 14-year-old girl participating in the program said she “felt like she was wearing a mask,” and would hide her face from the world. Bianchi and Blueskyes have seen a major transformation in her. “She became more expressive, interacted better with her peers and has become a leader,” said Blueskyes.

Student artwork from the workshop will be displayed in the Thomas P. Kelly Jr. Student Art Gallery on LMU’s campus on Friday, Aug. 7 from 7-8:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.