Painted Brain founders embrace the hidden superpowers behind their mental illnesses (2024)

Table of Contents
How it began The pandemic has taken a toll. What can we learn from people with mental health challenges? Finding purpose Peer support can help people with mental health challenges. Here’s how it works More to Read Released after two years of locked psychiatric care: A battle few families can fight Being in community is a choice. And these L.A. artists keep picking each other ‘Very aggressive treatment’ on the streets of Skid Row from a ‘Renegade M.D.’ More to Read Released after two years of locked psychiatric care: A battle few families can fight Being in community is a choice. And these L.A. artists keep picking each other ‘Very aggressive treatment’ on the streets of Skid Row from a ‘Renegade M.D.’ More to Read Released after two years of locked psychiatric care: A battle few families can fight Being in community is a choice. And these L.A. artists keep picking each other ‘Very aggressive treatment’ on the streets of Skid Row from a ‘Renegade M.D.’ ‘Excuses, excuses, excuses’: A desperate father, a tormented son, an overburdened system 8 free holiday wallpapers, illustrated by neurodivergent artists Seeking redemption: A death row inmate’s journey into L.A. County’s largest psych ward Opinion: How California could extend mental health care to millions of residents in need Super Evil Genius inspires wicked creativity by revamping marketing firm culture Guerrero: Have fun with strangers. Democracy and our mental health may depend on it FAQs

David “Eli” Israelian felt like the walls were closing in on him in his co-working space in L.A.’s Arts District in 2009. Israelian is a software developer who lives with mental illness: schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder. And he does have hallucinations.

But as the weeks went by, he said his space really was getting smaller. He saw Dave Leon — then a stranger who shared the area with him in the warehouse — moving the cubicle walls, and they started to talk.

Leon, a licensed clinical social worker, doesn’t remember the details, but he had recently started a project called Painted Brain to create a community for people with mental health challenges. They were having a lot of gatherings, he explained, and they had a lot of stuff — a piano, a drum set, tables and lots of art supplies. They were outgrowing their space.

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Once Israelian learned about Painted Brain’s mission, he offered to build them a better website. At the time, Leon didn’t know Israelian was struggling himself, going in and out of hospitals. Israelian coded his first version of the website on paper during one of his stints in a mental health facility.

When Israelian told Leon about his diagnoses, Leon was excited.

“I was like, ‘You’re part of our team,’” Leon said. “‘This is awesome.’”

Painted Brain founders embrace the hidden superpowers behind their mental illnesses (1)

Lawrence Rozner, who was part of the art group that became Painted Brain, worked with another early member to create the first logo for the peer-run mental health nonprofit.

(The Painted Brain)

“I’m like, ‘Watch your mouth,’” Israelian joked, before turning serious. “‘I live with this. It hasn’t been such a gift, you know?’ And he said, ‘I understand.’”

Leon also identifies as a peer, someone who has experience with mental illness. He’s lived with depression since he was about 10.

“But we both built up to this ... idea that [our challenges] could turn into a gift … to create this power, this superpower,” said Israelian, “and hone in on that and make it an asset for the company.”

Painted Brain is an L.A.-based peer-run mental health nonprofit co-founded by Leon, Israelian and Rayshell Chambers. It’s important for them as leaders to be transparent about their own experiences and share their stories.

“The way that the mental health system has operated for so many years, it’s a very top-down system,” said Leon. “It’s about labeling and identifying symptoms and trying to treat symptoms. It’s potentially a little bit dehumanizing at the best ranges. And then within the public system, the services are hard to get, hard to maintain, hard to access, and of varying qualities.”

Their peer-run model is meant to topple the traditional hierarchies of mental healthcare. The executives and community members are on level ground. They all know what it’s like to struggle with their mental health. They understand what’s at stake and what’s necessary to keep each other from spiraling downward.

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“Mental illness is just, for some people, a part of their life,” Leon said. “And it’s about learning to work through it, accommodate it, live around it, live through it, live with it. But I think that the way it’s talked about is often trying to, like, get rid of it or push it aside, as opposed to make it a part of your life and find some purpose or meaning in it.”

Painted Brain founders embrace the hidden superpowers behind their mental illnesses (2)

The “Anti-Depressers” is a comic by by Lawrence Rozner, who was part of the first art group that evolved into the peer-run mental health nonprofit Painted Brain.

(Lawrence Rozner)

How it began

Leon started Painted Brain because he was looking for a place to bring together the young adults with serious mental illness he was meeting individually as a therapist.

“That’s kind of where my heart is,” he said. “Just trying to find a way to help people that don’t fit in find each other, and maybe fit in better.”

He quickly found that it was hard for them to open up and talk. They felt more comfortable sitting together and drawing.

“I was working with a group ... from all different backgrounds, like the full gamut of Los Angeles, really, and I thought these people were the coolest people I’ve ever met,” said Leon. “Some of them barely spoke. Some talked really intensely. Some were just incredible artists ... and I just thought, ‘If people could see this, we would have a different attitude towards mental illness.”

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After about a year, he started compiling their artwork into a magazine. The index of their inaugural Painted Brain issue matched the basic concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy: thoughts, feelings and actions. Each issue included a beginner’s guide to mental illness, a featured artist, a featured mental health worker or parent, a poetry section, cartoon section, a fashion shoot — and lots of art. It printed from 2006 to 2012 and continues online.

Painted Brain founders embrace the hidden superpowers behind their mental illnesses (3)

In 2006, Painted Brain co-founder Dave Leon compiled the first issue of the magazine with art, poetry and interviews.

(The Painted Brain)

As Painted Brain grew, Leon and Israelian started developing programs to address issues they noticed their community members having.

“We were getting contracts, slowly built up, slowly built up,” said Israelian. “And we got Rayshell on board, and Rayshell came in like fire.”

Before Chambers joined Painted Brain, she was a technical writer for a nonprofit focused on community-based care for ethnic communities. She had helped Leon with some grant writing, but it wasn’t until after her sister died of an overdose that they crossed paths again.

She told him she was struggling mentally. It made her feel helpless that she had been writing substance abuse programs for her work, but she couldn’t save her own sister.

“I was like, I have to do more; we have to do more,” she said. “And I wanted to use my skills to at least normalize mental health, particularly for communities of color.”

Chambers helped them incorporate into a company in 2016 and became their chief operating officer. Now they have more than 40 employees, and they not only run art groups but provide occupational therapy, crisis support, peer support, digital literacy training, homeless services, advocacy and more.

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Finding purpose

They also provide jobs to those with a history of mental health challenges, taking peers off disability and transitioning them toward full-time careers.

Painted Brain founders embrace the hidden superpowers behind their mental illnesses (5)

Amer Azad was a member of the first art group that evolved into the peer-run mental health nonprofit Painted Brain.

(Amer Azad)

“What we do here is we get you to find your purpose, your people and then be productive,” said Israelian. “Because if you aren’t doing those three things, you’re going to spiral downward.”

He said that when Painted Brain hires people, they don’t list a job posting and recruit for it. They try to figure out each individual’s superpower.

“I train individuals who are living with mental health challenges to code, and they pick up on coding faster than most. … So it says a lot about the way that their brains are processing information and how they find these patterns, to retain whatever they’re learning and also apply that to something that’s practical,” said Israelian.

Leon said there’s a hidden strength to every mental illness. He points out that mania would be considered superpower in warrior cultures, being able to fight for days without tiring. People with autism have increased sensory awareness. Some cultures might see schizophrenia as having access to other realms — and someone having a psychotic break as transitioning to become a spiritual leader for the community.

“When you think about what we call ‘symptoms’ and what some other cultures or societies might call ‘experiences,’ the meaning that’s associated with the experience has a huge impact on how you see it, how you make sense of it, what you do with your life around it,” he said.

For the record:

10:32 a.m. Oct. 6, 2021This story incorrectly states that Rayshell Chambers has bipolar disorder. She lives with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Chambers said that watching Leon and Israelian be so open about their mental illness gave her the courage to go public with her bipolar disorder and her history with hospitalization.

“It’s kind of scary to be so authentic and transparent,” she said.

But once she realized how much change she could make just by being honest and telling her story, she said she couldn’t be afraid anymore.

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Israelian also used to run away from his diagnoses. Now, he embraces them.

“I just think that it’s very empowering for me to say I’m a schizophrenic, OCD and BPD individual,” he said. “Because I don’t give power to those labels. You’re going to remember me, my personality, my contributions, the creation of Painted Brain and all this other stuff I’ve done.”

He understands that some people will still prejudge him, but he said the ones who accept him for his vulnerabilities are the type of people he’d rather be surrounded by anyway. The type of people who contribute to an organization like Painted Brain.

“Who better to create any sort of program or a business model that basically is catering to the experience of a peer, right?” he said. “Who better than the person who has lived it?”

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More to Read

  • Released after two years of locked psychiatric care: A battle few families can fight

    March 1, 2024

  • Being in community is a choice. And these L.A. artists keep picking each other

    Feb. 27, 2024

  • ‘Very aggressive treatment’ on the streets of Skid Row from a ‘Renegade M.D.’

    Feb. 24, 2024

Painted Brain founders embrace the hidden superpowers behind their mental illnesses (2024)

FAQs

Is painted brain a credible source? ›

Our peer-run program is a trusted provider of services that has been transforming lives in California for over a decade.

What is the hardest mental illness to live with? ›

One of the Most Painful Mental Illnesses: Living with BPD Pain. Borderline personality disorder is one of the most painful mental illnesses since individuals struggling with this disorder are constantly trying to cope with volatile and overwhelming emotions.

Which famous painter had schizophrenia? ›

Louis Wain

He is most known, however, for being the artist who suffered from Schizophrenia, and it is believed that his paintings were a manifestation of his disorder. His paintings decorate psychology books showing how his style developed as his illness progressed.

Does mental illness come from the mother or father? ›

Remember… Mental disorders are the result of both genetic and environmental factors. There is no single genetic switch that when flipped causes a mental disorder. Consequently, it is difficult for doctors to determine a person's risk of inheriting a mental disorder or passing on the disorder to their children.

Is Painted Brain a nonprofit organization? ›

Rayshell is the co-founder of Painted Brain, a mental health, tech, and art nonprofit based in Los Angeles, that provides peer-based services and practice training in technology and clinical mental health.

Who is Kevin Naruse? ›

Kevin's passion is helping people realize the power of “digital” to amplify “human cooperation” with open, transparent, agile teams leveraging social networking and creating”digital change agents”.

What is the Joker's mental disorder? ›

The psychopathology Arthur exhibits is unclear, preventing diagnosis of psychotic disorder or schizophrenia; the unusual combination of symptoms suggests a complex mix of features of certain personality traits, namely psychopathy and narcissism (he meets DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder).

What is the number 1 mental illness in the world? ›

Depression. Impacting an estimated 300 million people, depression is the most-common mental disorder and generally affects women more often than men.

What is the most misdiagnosed mental illness? ›

One study found that 69% of people with bipolar disorder were initially misdiagnosed and about a third of those remained misdiagnosed for at least 10 years. Bipolar disorder is most frequently misdiagnosed as unipolar major depression--commonly known as depression.

Which actress had schizophrenia? ›

Babi's personal life has been well-documented by the media; she had remained unmarried after a string of relationships with Kabir Bedi, Danny Denzongpa and Mahesh Bhatt. She was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which came to the attention of the public following various incidents, as well as diabetes.

What artist has dementia? ›

William Charles Utermohlen (December 5, 1933 – March 21, 2007) was an American figurative artist known for his late-period self-portraits completed after his diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease. He was diagnosed in 1995, having had progressive memory loss since 1991.

What famous genius had schizophrenia? ›

Vincent van Gogh

According to one account, van Gogh, during an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, heard someone in his ear say, "Kill him." Instead, van Gogh took a knife and cut off part of his own ear. Some psychiatrists think he might have had depression or bipolar disorder instead.

What do daughters inherit from their mothers? ›

It's responsible for the cell's respiration and energy production processes. And, mitochondrial DNA (or mDNA) is inherited strictly from the mom. Unlike X-linked traits, both boys and girls receive their mitochondria and those corresponding genetic traits from mom.

How to tell if someone is mentally ill? ›

Examples of signs and symptoms include:
  1. Feeling sad or down.
  2. Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate.
  3. Excessive fears or worries, or extreme feelings of guilt.
  4. Extreme mood changes of highs and lows.
  5. Withdrawal from friends and activities.
  6. Significant tiredness, low energy or problems sleeping.
Dec 13, 2022

Is a painting a reliable source? ›

Works of art, in general, are considered primary sources. However, in some cases, paintings are considered secondary sources. If the painting was not created under the time it reflects, then it is a secondary source.

Is art journal a scholarly source? ›

As a peer-reviewed, professionally moderated scholarly journal, its concentrations include: art practice, art production, art making, art history, visual studies, art theory, and art criticism. The main contributors are artists, scholars, critics, art historians, and other writers in the arts.

Is art therapy credible? ›

Art therapy has been shown to be effective for people experiencing depression or anxiety. According to researchers, the process of creating art helps with emotion regulation, which in turn can help lower anxiety.

Is mind org a reliable source? ›

Our mental health information has been certified as trustworthy and reliable by the Information Standard.

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