We provide workshops that teach acting skills and improvisational games to both build confidence and develop important life skills. The children practice eye contact, voice projection, public speaking and creative storytelling and are encouraged to use their voices and express themselves in a fun, creative and safe environment. The games build their confidence and make them feel good about who the
y are and what they can achieve. The workshops also offer the opportunity for children to meet other children with facial differences and provide a safe, caring environment where they can discuss differences, teasing and related issues. Michael Williams-Stark, the workshop instructor, was himself born with a severe cleft lip and palate. During the workshops he shows the children a photograph of himself as a child, "then I see the acceptance, their sense that I am one of them" says Michael. At one picture-sharing session, a little girl put her head on Michael's shoulder and said, "So you understand." If I can achieve my dreams, so can they. I want to inspire and nurture those dreams." Michael used his experience of growing up with a facial difference and then becoming an award winning actor and musician to create a series of improv classes, specifically designed for children with facial differences. These workshops were extensively tested at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, with great success. Michael has also provided workshops at the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in Windsor and at AboutFace.
