Bob Ault says he fell into art therapy by accident when he got an art scholarship for graduate work at Wichita State University. Working with children with brain damage changed his life.

He worked as a therapist at Menenger's for more than thirty years as well as operating Ault's Art Academy. There, he displays his own works of art, teaches art classes, and offers art therapy to patients.

He says his life changed when he worked with a fourteen year old boy. His name was Lynn, he had survived a case of whooping cough but was left brain damaged, unable to speak or communicate. Bob started drawing with him and eventually drew a cartoon sequence of Lynn getting the mail. Lynn saw that and went and got the mail!! From then on, Bob simplified it with symbols and from then on, Lynn used symbols as communication. Bob later found out Lynn took copies of those symbols home to his small hometown in Nebraska and was able to communicate that way for the rest of his life.

If you'd like to see Bob's paintings of Topeka landmarks and landscapes, take an art class, or an art therapy session, you can visit his studio on Fairlawn in Topeka.

Ault's Academy of Art
923 Fairlawn ,Suite 1
Topeka, KS 66604

(785) 228-0200