About us
Be Creative Cornwall CIC is a small, fiercely-committed provision in Wadebridge. We exist because creativity, held by the right adults, can change everything.
Our story
One child, then two, then a waiting list of families who’d been told their young person was “too complex”, “too anxious”, or simply “unreachable”. A studio in Wadebridge slowly became a landing place for the children mainstream couldn’t hold.
The work has always been the same. Slow down. Take the pressure off. Put materials in front of a child and let them discover, in their own time, that they are capable, interesting, and welcome.
years of peer-support experience walking alongside families
“Children don’t need fixing. They need the right adults, the right materials, and enough time. That’s almost the whole job.”
Founder
BSc Sports Science · NHS Wellbeing Advisor · Trauma-informed practice
Emma is a parent of six. Several of her children are neurodivergent. Several of them have, at different points, been the child the mainstream system couldn’t hold. Everything Be Creative Cornwall does comes from years of walking that road as a mother before she walked it as a practitioner.
Skullptaface began as Emma’s own creative practice — sculpting faces, holding workshops, working with clay as a way of slowing people down. It became the seed of something larger: a place where young people written off as “too anxious”, “too complex” or simply “unreachable” could come and be met as makers first.
Emma holds a BSc in Sports Science and spent years as an NHS wellbeing advisor — work that taught her how nervous systems actually settle. She has more than twelve years of peer-support experience walking alongside families through diagnosis, EHCPs, school refusal, tribunals, and the long quiet recovery that follows burnout. She holds counselling qualifications and is currently completing certification in trauma-informed practice.
Co-Director
The Sculpture Workshop, Cornwall · Est. 1992 · 170 acres at Treraven Farm
Richard has run The Sculpture Workshop in Cornwall since 1992 — more than three decades of working with clay, stone and the people who come to learn from him. What began as a studio practice grew, over time, into a community: students, apprentices, returning faces, and long mentoring relationships that don’t fit on a CV.
He stewards Treraven Farm — 170 acres on the edge of Wadebridge. Working land, but also the wider canvas Be Creative Cornwall draws on: woodland, water, animals, room to move, and space to breathe. For young people who find four walls unbearable, the farm offers a different kind of classroom.
Day-to-day, Richard handles the things that hold the studio together: placements, schools liaison, funding routes, and the first discovery call most parents make. He is, for many families, the first calm voice on the other end of the phone.
“You build trust the same way you build anything that lasts — slowly, honestly, and with your hands.”
The wider team
Alongside Emma and Richard, a small group of artists, makers and therapeutic practitioners hold the day-to-day work — 1:1 sessions, small group work, and time out on the farm. Every one of them is DBS-checked, trauma-aware, and trained to work with neurodivergent young people.
Small team. Big care. Every person who works with your young person has been chosen for the way they show up — not just for what’s on their CV.
Our approach
Six principles shape every session, every space, and every conversation we have with a family.
Before art, before learning, before anything — a young person must feel safe. We design every space and session around that.
Healing and growth happen on their own timeline. We don’t impose ours. Some young people sit for weeks before they pick up a brush. That’s fine.
Clay, paint, mark-making — these are not just outputs. They’re how a dysregulated nervous system finds its way back to calm.
We don’t treat autism, ADHD or PDA as something to fix. We treat them as ways of being that need understanding, not management.
Small group sizes, consistent practitioners, the same faces week after week. Trust is built in repetition.
You know your child better than we ever will. We listen first, then offer what we can — guidance, reports, advocacy, a steady hand.
A community interest company
Whether you’re a parent, a school, or a local authority — start with a conversation. We’ll listen first.