The Color Feelings Studio: Spring Break Camp

Your tween is in the middle of something. Middle school, middle of figuring out who they are, middle of feeling things they don't always have words for. The Color Feelings Studio: Spring Break Camp was built for exactly this moment.

This is a 5-day spring break camp for ages 10–13 that combines art and emotional wellness, not as separate things, but as the same practice. Each day, campers make something real with their hands while learning real tools for understanding what's happening inside them.

It is led by Dr. Danessa Mayo, licensed clinical psychologist, visual artist, and founder of My Good Brain. There is no other spring break camp in San Diego where a clinician is in the room every day, running the curriculum herself.

Every session follows the same rhythm: a mindful check-in, a 10-minute psychoeducation talk from Dr. Mayo, a 90-minute studio maker block, a share-out, and a closing practice. The art medium rotates daily (collage, watercolor, mixed media, zine-making) so campers are always working with their hands, not sitting through a lesson.

The week builds to something tangible: each camper contributes a page to a group zine that captures the full week. Every camper takes one home.

Monday: Who am I right now? · Self-portrait collage
Tuesday: What do I actually feel? · Emotion color mapping + watercolor
Wednesday: Where do I belong? · Mixed media world-building
Thursday: What do I want to say? · Zine page + hand lettering
Friday: This is me. · Full week gallery + closing circle

The camp is grounded in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), one of the most well-researched approaches in clinical psychology, adapted for ages 10–13 and woven into every session. Campers leave the week with five portable practices they can use anywhere: a color feelings check-in, a body scan, a 3-breath reset, loving-kindness phrases, and a cognitive defusion technique.

These are not worksheets. They are skills taught through art, practiced in community, and sent home in the zine.

Clinician-led, every day. Dr. Mayo is not a wellness consultant or a camp coordinator with a psychology background. She is a licensed psychologist who also has a background in Studio Art. That combination is the curriculum.

Built for tweens specifically. Not adapted down from a teen program. Not adapted up from an elementary one. Ages 10–13 are at a distinct developmental stage: identity formation is active, peer belonging is everything, and emotional regulation is still being built. This camp is designed around that reality.

Small group. Capped at 10 campers. Psychological safety requires intimacy, and genuine connection cannot happen in a group of 30.

A real takeaway. Campers leave with their artwork from the full week and a copy of the group zine, a physical record that this week happened and that it meant something.

A snack and water bottle. Clothes that can get messy. An open mind. Everything else is provided.

My Good Brain is a nonprofit arts and mental wellness organization founded in 2021 by Dr. Danessa Mayo. We promote youth mental wellness through art and play. We model what it looks like for adults to take their own emotional health seriously. Our San Diego studio is located in the heart of Liberty Station's arts district at 2785 Truxtun Rd, Suite 202.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

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