Our Story

From silence to shaping. From feeling to forming.

In a fast-paced, high-pressure city like ours, students grow up under intense academic and emotional strain—regardless of whether they’re in local or international schools. In recent years, Hong Kong has seen a dramatic rise in youth suicide: from 7 reported cases under age 15 in 2022 to 24 in 2024. Behind those numbers are real lives facing silence, stress, and suffering. We knew we couldn’t look away, so we chose to respond in the way we knew best: through art.

So we started Art for Social Impact. A youth-led initiative using art as a tool to heal, connect, and uplift. Since then, we’ve entered special education classrooms, shelters, elder homes—teaching ceramics, listening to stories, holding space for feelings that had no name.

We’re not therapists. But we are witnesses. And we believe that presence is power.

Art for Social Impact is more than a project—It’s our promise to create a world where no one has to feel alone.

Our Team

Co-founder | Creative Director

Elsa Huang

I have always considered myself a person who "talks with my hands".

I have loved painting, clay modeling, and collage since I was a child. As long as I create, I can calm my chaotic mind. For me, art has never been just creation, but also a process of self-healing, and a language that connects me with the world.

As I grew up, I was exposed to design, photography and ceramics, and I have exhibited my works at international ceramics exhibitions many times. When the audience resonated with me through my works, beyond language, I felt the true power of art for the first time: it can connect people across cultures, ages and backgrounds. At an exhibition, a girl looked at my work and said, "It makes me feel at ease, as if someone is with me." At that moment, I realized: If art can heal me, it can also heal more people.

For me, Art for Social Impact is not a collection of products, but a kind of "gentle power".

I hope to combine art, aesthetics and brand strategy to create a safe space for people to express their emotions, and to provide an opportunity for neglected groups to be understood.

Co-founder | Educational Psychology Program Director

Gary Huang

I grew up in a family that dealt with ceramics, but my interest in ceramics was not because of its appearance, but because of its structure. I often asked questions like, "Why doesn't it crack?" and "What is the logic of firing?" This curiosity about the principles behind it gradually led me to psychology and education.

What really changed me was a voluntary pottery class.

That day, a little boy with ADHD was running around in the classroom, and no one could calm him down. Until I handed him a piece of wet clay and asked, "Do you want to make a home for it?" He stopped and began to pinch, press, and pat, releasing his emotions into the clay bit by bit. At that moment, I realized that pottery is not just art, it is a non-verbal emotional outlet and a psychological buffer.

Since then, I have started to combine psychology knowledge with pottery practice to design the "Pottery × Emotional Expression" course. These courses are not for creating beauty, but for making children, the elderly or refugees feel safe, understood and allowed to express themselves without pressure.

At Art for Social Impact, I systematize and teach these concepts, and through observation and recording, optimize them into a truly healing activity model. I hope these courses can become a glimmer of light that shines into the hearts of every person whose emotions are difficult to express.