“Painting Taiwan Through the Lens of Youth”: When Children’s Colors Give Home Its Name Back

Seven rural communities completed, thirty-three CTBC “Taiwan Dream” communities now underway. Nearly a thousand children co-created forty large-scale paintings. Guided by GIVER, Taiwan Youth Exhibition turns “Art × Education × Community” into a replicable, long-term commitment.

“We hope children see their hometowns first—then be seen by the world.” — Andrew Yang, Founder & Executive Director, Taiwan Youth Exhibition

On Site: The Moment the First Color Lands, the Landscape Finds Its Name

Step into the classroom and the first thing you notice isn’t color—it’s one another. Children gather around the paper and fall naturally into roles: one lays the base, another traces the edges, a third quietly writes down the place-names they’ve heard from grandparents. “Clue walls” and mission cards—sea breeze, rice scent, eaves, canoes—turn local memories into tangible prompts. It looks like coloring, but it is really a collective story about where I come from. When the work leaves the classroom, it returns to the community—exhibited or donated—so parents can “claim” their stories in front of the piece, and schools and local hubs become living spaces for civic participation.

Method: Co-Design, Co-Make, Co-Share—Soft to the Touch, Strong in Structure

This is not a one-off art class; it is a paced learning journey. The founder first creates large format lineworks that translate local motifs and landscapes into participatory visuals—lowering the technical barrier while preserving space for self-expression. In class, a modular lesson plan anchors teamwork, role-based collaboration, and short oral sharings—implicit learning in communication and narration. Afterward, the works circulate back to town through small exhibitions or donations, bringing everyday aesthetics home.

The skeleton stays constant while each place supplies its own “flesh.” The framework is replicable; the stories must be local. That is how the project scales without losing authenticity.

Brand Values: GIVER in Action—Letting a Principle Become Habit

Taiwan Youth Exhibition uses GIVER as its compass for project governance. Governance keeps emotion disciplined: standard procedures for child image consent and data protection; regular tracking of participation, feedback, volunteer hours, and footfall; transparent one-pagers and media assets for public review. Innovation stitches together local studies, aesthetics, and community mobilization into an operational blueprint. Mission cards, clue walls, and role tags make learning playful and effective. Valour means staying close across cultural and linguistic contexts, replacing one-time fanfare with systemic partnerships. Education modularizes the curriculum and systematizes teacher training so local educators can run it themselves. Reciprocate returns resources to the community through exhibitions and donations—and returns the voice of the story to children and families. GIVER is not a slogan; it’s a built-in pause that asks, “Does this step genuinely make us better—together?”

Impact: Beyond Beautiful Photos—Change You Can Verify

This phase saw seven rural Wenye Foundation communities completed and thirty-three CTBC Charity Foundation “Taiwan Dream” communities launched. Nearly 1,000 children participated, co-creating 40 large-scale works. Post-class surveys show most children “better understand their hometown,” and teachers report notable growth in collaboration and oral expression. More importantly, once the pieces return to town, parents and local centers are drawn in—viewing, guiding, sharing—turning each showing into a small public forum.

Externally, the program maps cleanly to SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities), and SDG 17 (Partnerships), enabling seamless alignment with corporate ESG and long-term philanthropy.

On one tour day, a grandmother held her grandson’s hand and pointed to a correctly written place-name in the corner of his painting, smiling like an unexpected harvest. These moments—often off-the-chart—are our firmest evidence of impact.

Partners: Turning Goodwill into a System That Lasts

Long-term support from the WT Foundation gives the rural classes steady rhythm; the CTBC Charity Foundation’s “Taiwan Dream Program” connects 33 communities; the Chi Po-lin Foundation and the Pauian Education Foundation reinforce exhibition, education resources, and volunteer mobilization. When collaboration upgrades from project to mechanism, applause isn’t consumed—it compounds into a replicable promise.

What’s Next: Extend the Bridge—Touring Modules, Teacher Training, Cross-Disciplinary Work

Next, we’ll standardize the touring kit—guided scripts, artwork notes, and a corner for oral histories—so each stop becomes a gentle re-indexing of local memory. Teacher training and a seed-TA program will operate regionally, enabling schools and communities to initiate and sustain the program themselves. In suitable sites, architecture and design teams will attempt micro-revitalizations so co-creation moves from canvas into space, letting children’s narratives continue in everyday life.