Some art does not rush to be explained. It exists first in space—on a canvas where the paint is still wet, in the flow of air within an exhibition hall, before the viewer has even named their emotions. Kate Huang’s creations exist in precisely such a state. They do not loudly declare a position, nor do they try to persuade immediately; instead, they quietly await a moment of understanding.
The company Kate Huang founded, Young Power Art, received the inaugural “Cross-Domain Co-prosperity Award.” This award is part of the first “ESG for Culture Impact Award” established in 2025 by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA). This award recognizes the innovativeness, impact, and sustainability of collaborative models between for-profit enterprises and cultural content producers, with cultural content, social impact, and commercial value at its core.
The award focuses on actions or works that leverage a company’s core business in collaboration with cultural content producers to jointly create ESG impact. The goal is to build an ecosystem where cultural influence drives corporate value, creating unique business models and economic benefits for enterprises. The “ESG for Culture Impact Award” emphasizes collaborative projects across the three dimensions of cultural content, social influence, and commercial value, with comprehensive evaluation determining the top three awardees.
In a list where most winners were large corporations, Young Power Art, a personal enterprise rooted in the art and culture scene, stood out like a dark horse. Standing under the shining spotlight at the awards ceremony, besides being gratified that her long-term efforts had finally been seen, Kate Huang felt the social responsibility she had always carried on her shoulders become even weightier.
Her life experiences have prepared her for this mission of healing through art. On this long journey, she has consistently adhered to her original intention. In an interview with《The Icons》international celebrity magazine, Kate Huang stated, “I want to use art to help people who, like me, have experienced the pains of life and illness. I also hope to enable the public to pay proper attention to this social phenomenon, and smoothly achieve the goal of establishing an Art Medical Foundation in the future.”
This is not a contest about scale, but a question of “whether art can enter the core of public narrative.” In the very first evaluation, Kate Huang and the company she founded, Young Power Art, succeeded. Kate Huang successfully brought art and culture into the core of public discourse, relying on years of diligent effort step by step.
Beyond the surprise of winning, Kate Huang does not view this recognition as a coincidence. During the selection process, she submitted various documentary materials, including media exposure and records of company activities and exhibitions, repeatedly explaining whether Young Power Art’s concept of “cross-domain” was merely conceptual collage or already enacted. Ultimately, she chose to lay all her actions bare: the practical collaboration with physicians, the on-site educational promotion, media coverage records, and connections with a wide range of creators, exhibitions, and public discussions.
Kate Huang also specifically emphasized, “To be understood, you naturally need to put in more effort to prove that you are not just stopping at words.” This is a sense of rhythm cultivated from a long-term position on the margins. She is not impatient for recognition but patiently accumulates traces that can be identified. She understands clearly that for art to enter the institutional purview, it must first learn how to be seen and read.
Kate Huang, Founder of Young Power Art, views this affirmation as an entry ticket. She believes cross-domain collaboration is not just a slogan but a very long road to travel. On this road, there is not only herself, who has recovered, but also many friends who need her and the foundation’s help. From cultural content and educational promotion to psychiatric advocacy and the public voicing of individuals in recovery, Huang’s “sustainability” is not just about environmental protection; it’s about how people can be understood, supported, and enlightened.
Crossing Boundaries: Not Just a Form of Collaboration, but an Inner Path
For Kate Huang, “cross-domain” has never been a strategy, but a worldview. “When most companies discuss the cultural aspect, they emotionally tell their stories. But my original intention has always been centered on rationality and sensibility, and the more I do, the more I find my own direction.”
Art and science, rationality and sensibility – in her understanding, there is no conflict. It was in dialogue with psychiatrist Dr. Su-Ting Hsu that she found herself again. Therefore, she is even more convinced that for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, medicine and art are inseparable. Through art, one perceives their body, gradually aligning physical actions with the thoughts in the mind and heart. This journey of aligning body and mind is itself a successful cross-domain attempt. She successfully walked back to her inner path, deep into her long-neglected soul, through medicine and art.
Kate Huang also hopes to promote this method to other patients and the public. Rationality and sensibility are indispensable; they possess essential commonalities fundamentally. They simply handle the same issue in different ways: how people understand themselves and establish relationships with the world. “I have always felt that rationality and sensibility are not opposites. They are actually on the same line.”
It is precisely this unique way of thinking that naturally guided her towards the collaboration between medicine and art. When creation enters the context of psychiatry, patient experience, and social advocacy, art is no longer just a form of expression, but becomes a usable language – one used to understand, connect with, and loosen existing labels.
TAICCA is also aware of her long-term collaboration with Dr. Hsu. For Huang, that is not just publicity, but concrete proof. Cross-domain collaboration is no longer merely a formal alliance, but a question of whether both parties can mutually fulfill each other on this psychosomatic journey, finding a harmonious and self-consistent inner state.
Starting with Children: Returning Creativity to Life
During the interview, Huang mentioned the reality in Taiwan: the government currently does not recognize art therapy, particularly painting therapy, as an official form of treatment. However, because sound therapy used in the field of music can yield measurable data, trust from the government and the public in sound therapy is currently higher.
Acknowledging the difficulties in promoting art therapy in Taiwan, she stated, “Regarding the painting aspect of art therapy, because it cannot be easily quantified, many people might think it is ineffective. Due to this, the government does not recognize that participating in art therapy, having children or patients paint, can produce therapeutic effects. That is a real pity. I believe that through our continuous efforts in this area, we can help the public, government departments, and entrepreneurs recognize the healing power of painting.”
In the context of artistic “sustainability,” Kate Huang has chosen a relatively slow mode of practice. Allowing art to unfold slowly, not pursuing rapid completion. She is not eager to name outcomes, nor does she chase immediately visible results. For her, true sustainability does not lie in how many projects are completed, but in whether things will continue to happen.
“If you only do something once, it will disappear quickly. What truly matters is whether it will continue to leave an impact.” This is also the core question Young Power Art returns to repeatedly in curation, education, and public collaboration: Can art be preserved over time, rather than consumed? And art education promotion is the quietest, yet most resolute, line in her practice.
In the teaching setting, she deliberately avoids replicative techniques, instead guiding children to think, ideate, and organize their own experiences. Here, art is not a final product, but a process that allows for trial and error and exploration. Huang emphasizes, “I do not want children to just copy the teacher. Because when they grow up, no one can paint their life for them.”
Her educational philosophy aims to give children a portable gift, promoting their self-identity through diverse methods, and fostering various concepts of equality in art classes—especially gender equality and gender diversity—encouraging them to explore and understand the essence of people and things, rather than being confined to superficial social labels.
Huang advocates using one’s own creative work as a starting point to further elaborate and extend related elements, spreading them outwards layer by layer like ripples, eventually forming a large circle encompassing many cross-disciplinary collaborative resources. This is how the sustainable narrative of art occurs.
Inner Strength Enhanced by Art Healing
“I think what a cultural entrepreneur needs most is an open mind, because if you do not have an open heart, you cannot embrace all kinds of infinite possibilities.” Besides foreseeing future global trends, Huang talks about: “Human potential is limitless. Cross-field, cross-culture, cross-domain – all kinds of possibilities exist. Art is not just art anymore, culture is not just culture. In the future, it may become even more diverse, embracing even greater inclusivity. We just need to accept that all sorts of seemingly impossible things can happen.”
In her inner world, societal frameworks and disciplinary boundaries have lost their necessity. Embracing the unknown and change in life is the only answer.
Kate Huang further believes that the life experience of creating healing paintings is, in itself, a test of inner vitality. The intricate and painstaking process of painting, along with the path to recovery, which others might find hard to believe, she successfully accomplished. For her, this is a powerful inner self-healing process, a strength and courage needed by society.
Especially for individuals in recovery, being able to finally take such artistic action, no longer confining themselves at home, overcoming internal obstacles, and going out together with other patients, even to institutions like the Legislative Yuan, to tell their stories, “lets people with more political influence understand that we can truly recover.”
Kate Huang feels this is a crucial self-awareness, encouraging patients to bravely step out of their homes. It not only accelerates recovery but also, through the understanding and communication of influential individuals, helps establish correct perceptions in the public eye, reducing societal stigma and negative criticism.
“When you yourself embody this issue, others will follow your lead and also be willing to collaborate across fields.” As someone who has been through it, Kate Huang leads by example, encouraging other patients, and through courageous voicing, channels vital healing resources into this community.
When Art Encounters Institutions, the Real Difficulties Begin
The real challenge often appears when art attempts to enter the institutional framework. Simultaneously an instructor and a person in recovery, Kate Huang stands at the intersection of government, medicine, and culture, witnessing how trust is built and how easily it can be withdrawn. “The hardest part is actually making the system believe you are not just an idealist, but that you can truly deliver.”
She talks about the still-fragmented communities of people in recovery, and society’s simplified imagination of mental disorders. What she does is not limited to creation; it involves repeated attempts to build stages, allowing overlooked lives to be seen and heard publicly. She earnestly hopes to use her personal experience as someone in recovery, combined with her artistic background, to transform artworks into channels for outward social communication.
In Kate Huang’s artistic language, “healing” is not about escaping reality, but a gentle yet clear-eyed gaze, an unrestricted open mind. “I hope my works do not weigh people down, but act like a lamp, glowing quietly.” She is not in a rush to define ESG or SDG, but allows viewers, through their observation, to feel for themselves the questions about dignity, connection, and understanding. Here, art does not provide answers, but leaves space.
She views this award as an entry ticket, not a destination. Kate Huang believes: “Resources are just the first step. What is most important is what you do after obtaining resources to change the world.” Looking back on her own path as someone in recovery, Huang deeply understands how difficult every step taken is for this community. She hopes even more to use her own resources and the realization of her ideals to help these people.
Therefore, in the future, she deeply hopes to establish a medical arts foundation, allowing the dialogue between art and medicine to continue. Besides voicing concerns for those in recovery, she also hopes to integrate medicine and art, using the opportunity from receiving the Cross-Domain Co-prosperity Award to consolidate resources in regenerative medicine, benefiting more people:
“I hope to help the public understand that mental illness does not solely rely on medication for recovery. Brain nerves can be continuously developed through training. Combining art and medicine in neural therapy can also achieve excellent results.”
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