"I don't feel it when I am painting," she said. "I can't tell you what this means to me."

Bezjak is one of more than a dozen members of the Caring Community that have found solace in the therapy of the center's art classes. The 12-week courses are offered by Fresh Art, a non-profit organization that introduces the arts to seniors and other groups. The classes began at the center in March with only a few women interested in exploring art that went beyond the "paint by numbers" variety. It has since blossomed into three courses a week, including decoupage, beadwork and drawing and painting.

"It was built as a drawing course," said Bergman. "We were going to just teach the basics, but they wanted more. They wanted watercolors, pastels." Other instructors were brought in to teach the decoupage and bead-work courses.

Last month, as the center celebrated its fifth anniversary at IPN, Suzanne Kreps, the executive director of Fresh Art, toured the facility and viewed the pastels, paintings, and the decoupage plates and vases created by the students. As she took in the table of beaded necklaces and baubles, members of the class greeted her with grateful hugs.

One of them was Gladys Porpora, an IPN resident who signed up for the beadwork class the first day it was offered and now has "beads all over the house."

"We're learning something new which, at our age, is wonderful," she said.