A Close- Up Look At People Who Matter : Her Art Paints a Path to Reach the Disabled

As a child, Lena Rivkin could escape in her art. “As if it was my own protective world in which I could communicate.”

An art teacher at Mount St. Mary’s College, Rivkin, 37, of Glendale, also teaches at inner city schools through the Artist in Residence and Teacher (ART) Partnership program at the Music Center Education Division.

“She’s been very special, especially with students with disabilities,” said Denise Grande, director of the program, which designs school workshops. “She is able to reach them through the arts in ways others might not be able to.”

Growing up, Rivkin was protective of her autistic brother Phillip, who had a big impact on her life and her view of people.

“I was always feeling for the person who was being made fun of,” said Rivkin, who turned to abstract art because, “No one could take it away from you. It’s inside you.”

For years, Rivkin’s brother lived in a world that she found mysterious. He never looked anyone in the eye, was very withdrawn and fixated on objects for a long time. Because of him, Rivkin was inspired to try to use art to unlock the world of the disabled, not only by physical or mental impairment, but by financial or social causes.

“All of our handicaps are not obvious,” said Rivkin, who also teaches adult students at the Weekend College program at Mount St. Mary’s, where she has noticed that everyone has problems that can be expressed through their art. “I don’t think pain is relative. Pain is individual.”

But art can also connect in unexpected ways, she said. Recently, a fourth-grade student at 99th Street School in South-Central Los Angeles brought in his saxophone on her last day at the school. Influenced by a lesson she gave on African American artist Romare Bearden--a painter of urban life who worked with jazz music--the boy played an improvisational piece for her.

Then, in a twist on the typical teacher-student exchange, he gave her a card that read: “You are very talented. Never let anyone take that from you.”

The ART partnership program boosts thinking skills, self-expression, attitude and cultural awareness, said Grande, citing a 1990 study by the UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation. And Rivkin has seen first-hand how the program can help inner city youth--who are often surrounded by drugs, crime and violence--communicate their thoughts and feelings.

“I see changes in their personalities,” said Rivkin, adding that some of the better students in her program often are troublesome in other classes.

Rivkin also has worked with disabled students as a teacher with the Barrier Free program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and still works with the Very Special Arts Festival run by the Music Center Education Division.

But Rivkin’s biggest personal breakthrough was two years ago. Inspired by books like “Down All the Days,” a novel by Irish writer and cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown--famous also for “My Left Foot”--Rivkin started looking for ways to reach her brother.

Through “facilitated communication” a method in which an autistic person can type with assistance, Phillip has been able to speak with his family for the past two years, revealing not only an adult intelligence, but an almost poetic way of expressing himself.

“This has been like getting to know a whole new person,” said Rivkin, who finally learned that Phillip prefers pepperoni pizza to Chinese food. And he called his sister “the best young friend he has.”

It worried her to think about how frustrated her brother might have been all these years, and how poorly treated he had been. But he had also developed a sense of humor, and a good outlook on life, she said, quoting a line he typed: “I think I have the good fortune of having many friends.”

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