If the ability to connect and communicate with your loved one has diminished, this how-to book offers step-by-step alternative ways to creatively engage and interact through arts activities, so you can share quality time together with this person whom you love. Even if you’ve never tried to paint, sing, dance, tell a story, read or write a poem, this easy-to-use guide will show you how to discover the richest relationship experience possible through simple ways of acknowledging the creative spirit that is in all of us, even in those with Alzheimer’s or Dementia.

If you are thinking, my loved one (or I) can’t do this, consider the possibility before closing the door to what can be an experience like no other. By letting go of traditional means of interacting, you will discover unconventional ways to spend time with this person in your life through creative yet dignified shared experiences. My decades of successfully working through arts engagement with persons with Alzheimer’s or Dementia has led me to write this book so you, too, can find that place between you and your loved one where the creative spirit emerges and extraordinary connections begin.

This book includes: Preface: How I Entered the World of Planet Alzheimer’s – My Path to This Guidebook, Introduction: What is Arts & Alzheimer’s? A Key to Communication that Anyone Can Explore, Painting and Drawing on Memories, Language of Music and Movement: Songs, Sing-Alongs, & Instrumental Music, The 4 R’s: Rhyme, Rhythm, Recitation, Recall – Poetry and Storytelling, A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: Photos, Art Books and Visits to Museums, Engaging Family and Friends of All Ages: An Intergenerational Approach, All Together Now: Including Support and Medical Staff in the Arts Experience, Displaying and Celebrating Art – Creations by Those with Alzheimer’s or Dementia, Caring for Yourself Through Art While Caring for Your Loved One, Epilogue, More Photos of Paintings, Drawings, and Arts Activities. This illustrated guide contains numerous color photos of images of artwork created by people with Alzheimer’s or Dementia.

You’ll also see many color photos of these artists at work on their own, with my guidance, and photos of their work on exhibition. Most people know someone with Alzheimer’s or Dementia or know of someone who does. This disease is like Cancer and AIDS in years past: feared and misunderstood. While we are learning more and more about Alzheimer’s, its absolute cause and cure remain a mystery.

Until we find a way to prevent and eradicate this disease, it will haunt all of us because it could happen to any of us. It does not discriminate by race, ethnicity or gender. It doesn’t it care if you’re rich and famous or poor and downtrodden. It creeps up rather than comes down in a flash. And more than forty-four million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of dementia.Alzheimer’s is a dance. Those who inhabit its world lead and we follow. Let us take those steps together through arts engagement and journey into what art can do. As my mentor Mel Lee says, “Don’t miss out on the beauty of a spirit not gone.” This book will show you how.