About Be Creative

Built from lived experience,
for young people the system keeps missing.

Be Creative Cornwall CIC is a small, fiercely-committed provision in Wadebridge. We exist because creativity, held by the right adults, can change everything.

“Every child should have access to a resource like Be Creative it’s a hidden gem.”

— PARENT

 

Our story

It began the way most meaningful things do — quietly.

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.

12+ years of peer-support experience walking alongside families.

Parent of six
Creative practitioner
Late-diagnosed ND

“Children don’t need fixing. They need the right adults, the right materials, and enough time. That’s almost the whole job.”

Founder

Emma Austin

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.

Book a 1:1 consultation with Emma

Co-Director

Richard

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.

Contact Richard
Sculptor
Teacher
Steward of Treraven Farm

“You build trust the same way you build anything that lasts — slowly, honestly, and with your hands.”

DBS checked
Trauma-aware
ND-trained
Consistent practitioners

The wider team

A small, carefully chosen team of practitioners.

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.

Contact us

A community interest company

Be Creative Cornwall CIC (no. 14516167) is a not-for-profit. Every penny goes back into widening access to therapeutic creative work for the children who need it most.

Want to work with us?

Whether you’re a parent, a school, or a local authority — start with a conversation. We’ll listen first.

Contact us Book a free call