Case Study: The Power of Color in Teen Mental Health Facility Design

Project Location: Castle Rock, Colorado
Interior Design Partner: Wayfair Professional
Client: Sandstone Care Teen Mental Health Facility

Healing Spaces Through Color: Art as a Clinical Tool

When curating an art package for youth in recovery, color is more than aesthetic—it's a vessel for therapeutic impact. At Sandstone Care's Castle Rock location, The Art Firm curated a fully integrated healthcare art package guided by the principles of Evidence-Based Design, neuroaesthetics, and color psychology to enhance healing, promote calm, and restore emotional balance, thereby empowering adolescent recovery. This intentional use of color and art helped create a supportive environment that aligns with clinical goals, behavioral wellness, and youth development.

EDAC-Informed Color Strategy in Mental Health Design

Working from this color-emotion matrix, each artwork was selected for its specific psychological benefits. This evidence based approach was used strategically across social zones, transition areas, and dining spaces to:

• Reduce anxiety and visual overstimulation
• Improve wayfinding and spatial orientation
• Foster emotional regulation and trust
• Promote creativity, calm, and safe expression

Neuroaesthetics Meets Real-World Recovery

Inspired by Your Brain on Art, this project translated neuroscience into spatial storytelling:

• Nature-based biophilic imagery: intended to activate parasympathetic responses, to lower cortisol.
• Youth-oriented themes (biking, mountains, games): intended to foster connection and relevance in a healthy lifestyle.
• Wayfinding art plans: Each area of the facility utilized themed imagery (animals, local landscapes, sports) to create memory cues that foster confidence in the space and guide and soothe new residents.

Evidence in Action: Healing by Design

• Color application to ignite emotions and promote recovery
• Theme-coded zones to improve navigation and wayfinding
• Collaboration with the Interior Designers at Wayfair Professional ensured seamless integration of art with the FF&E
• Every piece was fabricated for commercial durability, safety, and clinical appropriateness

A Space That Sees the Whole Person

Every piece of art curated and placed at Sandstone Castle Rock was intentionally selected with intention—to stimulate where needed, to soothe where vital. The result is a vibrant, pacifying, and youth-centered mental health environment rooted in awareness, science, and theory.

This case study serves as a testament to the transformative power of evidence-based art consulting and trauma-informed design, which can transform physical environments into healing landscapes.

"Our healthcare art packages are never just decoration—they are designed to work as a visual layer of care." – Juliana Roslin, Lead Art Consultant, Art Firm

Are You Designing for Behavioral Health or Healthcare?

Let’s curate an art plan that heals—on every wall. | www.artfirm.com

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