In 1997, Channarong Pornrungroj, the former Dean of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University started an art program for disadvantaged and disabled children. “Art for All” uses art as a vehicle for developing the skills and talents of both disabled and non-disabled individuals. In 2007, the Art for All Foundation partnered with the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts of Thailand's largest university, Chulalongkorn University, creating a campus office known as the Art for All Center. Chulalongkorn University prematurely pulled funding for the Art for All Center's 3-year contract due to accounting and reporting irregularities. The University is no longer associated with Art for All.
Program volunteers, in conjunction with gifted and average children along with the blind, deaf and physically or mentally impaired all take part in a diverse range of activities. They range from musical, visual and mixed media, dance, drama to literature experiences.
Activities
The Art for All program offers and conducts a diverse array of activities where both mainstream and disadvantaged young people learn to work cooperatively together. They range from weekend art education exchange sessions to the larger annual, regional and indigenous Hilltribe Art for All Camps as well as one for prisoners facing life and death sentences.
Art for All also organizes art exhibitions, workshops, hosts the international art education model group as well as conducts research and publishing an annual that incorporates leading research papers related to art, education and the underprivileged.
International Education Model and Research Forum
The Art for All international program brings together key researchers and program representatives to present their current papers in an exchange forum about the disabled art education programs in their own country.