Our Mission / Vision

Laurence Vandenborre, a registered and certified arts therapist, founded The Red Pencil with her husband after having witnessed the distress of children and their families who were victims of the 2004 tsunamis which hit the Indian Ocean coastlines. At that time, Laurence was working at the Raffles Hospital in Singapore and had a chance to support children who had been caught in the waves. She witnessed how arts therapy could be rapidly change lives. This was the seed which led to the creation of The Red Pencil in 2011.

Since then, The Red Pencil has transitioned from one single mission to thriving Institutions of Public Character in both Singapore and Geneva , and a registered Non-Profit Organisation in the United Arab Emirates. Over the years, The Red Pencil has expanded its scope of activities and beneficiaries in Singapore and spread internationally, developing and offering arts therapy programmes in every continent around the world and responding to the rapid growth of societies, migration issues and the evolving needs of beneficiaries in various cultural contexts.

The Red Pencil brings the power of arts therapy (drawing, painting, dancing and music) to children, adults and families from low-income backgrounds or who have been through traumatic life circumstances - natural disaster, displacement as a result of conflict zones, human trafficking, life-threatening disease, violence and abuse - for which they have no words, and help them heal and grow.
Through Arts therapy, The Red Pencil helps break the vicious cycles of helplessness and violence and offers a way of expression towards joy, balance, self-empowerment and resilience.

Anyone, anywhere, at any stage of their life, can benefit from arts therapy.
We have witnessed communities which were unfamiliar to art-making and were totally revived by having the opportunity to engage in our missions.
We wish to bring these life-changing benefits to the largest amount of people possible, all over the world, and promote arts therapy .

- Intervene in Singapore by partnering with hospitals, family centres, homes, shelters and schools to attend to the emotional needs of childre, adults and families.
- Design and implement international missions in association with local or international organizations order to help children, adults and families caught in natural disasters and conflict zones
- Promote Arts therapy and the profession of art therapists through scholarships and research.