Rising Stars: Meet Vivienne And Alexander Fullerton of San Diego

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vivienne And Alexander Fullerton.

Vivienne and Alexander, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
All four of our grandparents have experienced dementia, which has significantly impacted our lives. From a young age, we learned how to interact with and support seniors with this condition, realizing the importance of our involvement. When our grandfather had to move to a senior home, we witnessed firsthand how many seniors suffer from dementia.

As we grew older, we wanted to make a more significant impact on the lives of these seniors. We considered ways to get involved and provide support while also helping to strengthen their cognitive abilities. We volunteered at various senior homes, participating in activities such as animal therapy, games, and crafts. Through our previous experiences and online research, we discovered that art was an effective way to connect with seniors dealing with memory loss and other neurological disabilities. We saw how creating art together creates a calming, supportive space to connect, engage, and provide companionship.

To initiate our first art workshop, we established a connection and met with the managers at the senior home where our grandfather lived. This made it easier for us to quickly get started. During the in-person meeting, we explained our story, our objectives, and our goals for the future. This meeting opened the door for us to work with many seniors on a variety of art projects. The senior home activity directors provided us with access to memory care communities with art supplies. Most senior homes and caregivers welcome and appreciate volunteers, which allowed us to work closely with many seniors.

In the past three months, we have had 127 participants in our workshops. We recently completed a group art project where the seniors painted individual butterflies. These pieces will be combined into a collaborative display that showcases their collective artwork. This summer, our goal is to provide senior summer camps with weeklong individual and group art projects.

Launching a nonprofit requires using many different resources and is a team effort. We learned from a college credit class on entrepreneurship at UCSD about how to create a business plan and sought assistance from people with experience in marketing, tax forms and donation platforms, while teachers, family friends, and our grandfather with dementia provided encouraging support. Moving forward, we will continue to seek new ways to learn new skills and expand our services.

To deepen her understanding of how the brain works, Vivienne (15 years old) will participate in a neuroscience program at the Stanford University School of Medicine this summer. Alexander (13 years old), who tracks the metrics and finances of Creative Hearts, plans to complete an advanced summer math program.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Creating our nonprofit has been a relatively smooth journey, thanks to the strong trust and communication between our team, the senior homes we partner with, and the shared support from everyone involved in Creative Hearts primary goal. Our prior experience working with seniors who have dementia or Alzheimer’s has also been valuable. This background has enabled us to remain flexible, meet the seniors where they are in their dementia journey or even in their day, and foster some great connections with seniors, as our goal is to create a fun and enjoyable environment for them. These factors have contributed to making our journey smooth and fun.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Making a positive impact in our community has always been an important value for us since we were young. It is important to see and understand the bigger picture of the community we live in and to know that we have the skills, knowledge, and resources to create any impact we desire. Each year, our mom encouraged us to choose a topic we were passionate about and take action on it. Over the past ten years, we have built and donated two Little Free Libraries in San Diego, made toys for homeless children, fundraised for many nonprofits and volunteered with several organizations, including the San Diego Humane Society, Helen Woodward Animal Center, Frosted Faces Foundation, Chickadee Country Farm, Solutions for Change, and the San Diego Rescue Mission.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Finding a mentor can sometimes feel intimidating, especially if you are unsure where to start. For us, we thought about all the adults we know who have been great leaders, role models, and are accountable. It’s important to remember that a mentor doesn’t need to be someone you’ve known for years; rather, it should be someone you trust and share similar values with. This could be a teacher, a friend, a club leader, or even a neighbor. The next biggest step is reaching out to them. We have found that talking to people in person is far more effective than communicating back and forth through emails or messages. Alexander’s mentor is a doctor and Scoutmaster in his Boy Scout troop. Vivienne found mentors in educators and leaders at her school.
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Creative Hearts is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for individuals affected by dementia and relies on the generosity of donors to support their programs. Visit https://givebutter.com/CREATIVEHEARTS or email CreativeHeartsNonprofit@gmail.com to help seniors with dementia find connection, support, joy and community through group art workshops and creative expression.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://creativeheartsarttherapy.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creative.hearts.art.therapy/
• Donation: https://givebutter.com/CREATIVEHEARTS
• Email: CreativeHeartsNonprofit@gmail.com