ARTLife717 is the public-facing name of Mental Health Awareness and Creative Arts Gallery, Inc., a nonprofit mental health awareness and creative arts gallery located at 717 Columbia Street in Hudson, New York. We provide an inclusive, stigma-free space where people across the mental health and recovery spectrum can exhibit creative work, take part in free art classes and wellness-centered workshops, and connect with others through the healing power of art.
Our gallery welcomes work in all mediums and encourages artists to grow, thrive, and expand their creative lives. Through rotating exhibitions, community workshops, recovery-centered programming, and partnerships with local organizations such as the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties and NAMI Columbia County, ARTLife717 uses art to reduce stigma, build community connection, and celebrate the creativity of people with lived experience.
ARTLife717 regularly collaborates with local mental health, peer support, and recovery organizations to present exhibits, workshops, and public events that promote mental health awareness in Hudson and Columbia County.
Stories in Color
An exhibition celebrating personal expression, recovery, and the power of creativity to give shape to lived experience.
Stories in Color brings together artists whose work reflects the many ways color can hold memory, emotion, identity, healing, and hope. Through painting, mixed media, photography, and other creative forms, this exhibit invites viewers to experience each artwork as part of a larger story — one that speaks to resilience, imagination, and the human need to be seen and heard.
Presented by ARTLife717, Stories in Color continues our mission of using the arts to raise mental health awareness, reduce stigma, and create a welcoming community space where creativity and recovery can be celebrated together.
Exhibit runs June 27 – August 29, 2026
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 11, 2026, 5–7 PM
ARTLife717 gratefully acknowledges NAMI Columbia County for underwriting the Stories in Color exhibit and reception. We also thank the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties for its continued support and partnership in helping make this community mental health awareness exhibit possible.
One-time donations to our nonprofit organization
can be made through our PayPal Giving Fund
or by mailing a check payable to “The Mental Health Awareness Gallery” to:
Brian Belt P.O. Box 543 Philmont, NY 12565
Recurring monthly donations can be made by clicking ‘Donate now’ below
NAMI and ARTLife717: Help for those with mental health disorders and their families
By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON —
The Columbia Paper – Thursday, February 27, 2025
The truth is that no one by mental health disorders. Some are more serious than others, and some are manifested by substance use disorders. One in every five individuals (roughly 60 million Americans) lives with a mental health disorder at some time in his life, and the families of those individuals are inevitably affected as well. Almost 50% of all adolescents (13–18-year-olds) experience some form of issue, and 22.2% suffer what the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) classifies as a “serious” mental health disorder, meaning one that seriously impairs the ability to function. NIMH says that only two-thirds of those affected receive some form of therapy.