Ars-PD Study - Fresco Parkinson Institute

Ars-PD Study is an exploratory pilot trial investigating feasibility and therapeutic potential of artistic experience in patients with parkinson’s disease. From a scientific viewpoint, the creative process of art making involves the use of sophisticated neurological functions such as abstraction, associative ideation, divergent thinking, visual imagery, visuospatial planning, sensory-motor integration, and eye-hand coordination. These functions could theoretically be engaged by art-based interventions in order to improve different clinical symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. Indeed, according to the preliminary results from an ongoing study carried out by the research partners at the Marlene and Paolo Fresco Institute at NYU, proctored art therapy seems to hold significant therapeutic potential to improve a broad range of symptoms in patients affected by Parkinson’s disease. Following a dedicated art therapy program, beneficial changes were observed in patients’ visual skills, motor function, and psychological wellbeing.
Fresco Parkinson Institute Italia is further develop this fascinating line of clinical research bridging art and neuroscience and they developed the ARS-PD Study a research project exploring the effects of an art-based intervention specifically thought to address psychological and physical limitations experienced by patients affected by Parkinson’s disease in their activities of daily living. Participants are engaged in different creative projects under the supervision of internationally renowned artists while the clinical research team investigated the potential effects of this intervention on their symptoms by means of clinical, psychological, behavioral and kinematic assessments through a scientifically rigorous and reproducible methodology. The study was conducted by the research team of the Villa Margherita Fresco Parkinson Center in Arcugnano, Vicenza coordinated by Dr.Alberto Cucca, MD.