00:00This is a building on the campus of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Institute in New York,
00:04but it's also an art studio and gallery.
00:07It's called the Living Museum,
00:08and since 1983, it's provided a space for the Institute's patients to create and display artwork.
00:14Director Dr. Micho Rehani-Gadim says the museum can help participants change their self-conceptualization.
00:20People with mental illness always have this label already, right?
00:25And coming here, we're changing that by becoming artists.
00:32So there's an identity change, really, you know, that can be healing.
00:38Paula Brooks has been working at the museum since the 1990s.
00:41When I come to, like, the studio, it's like a relief day.
00:48Like, I could spend my whole time of the day painting and not have anything interrupt.
00:55That's negative or violent.
00:57So I'm very happy to be painting.
01:01Creedmoor has had a controversial history.
01:03In 1983, the same year the Living Museum was founded,
01:06the New York Times reported on New York City and New York State feuding over housing homeless men there.
01:11And according to local station Fox 5,
01:13this year saw protests against a plan by Mayor Eric Adams to house migrants at Creedmoor.
01:18But the Living Museum has served as an oasis for its artists,
01:21and the public can visit by appointment Monday through Friday.
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