Helping dementia patients communicate with paintings and more arts stories you might have missed

Here at CBC Arts, you won't just find our original content — we also bring you the best art posts from across the entire CBC network.

These are the week's can't-miss stories:

How art is helping doctors and caregivers better understand dementia patients (CBC Nova Scotia)

"An artist and researcher in Dalhousie University's faculty of medicine is painting portraits of people with dementia to better understand what they, and those who care for them, go through. Mark Gilbert has spent the last two decades sitting across from patients and, with their consent, turning their stories into works of art. Dr. Kenneth Rockwood said he's seen firsthand the power that art can have for patients, but this will be the first time caregivers will be involved. 'Done properly, art can help patients and can help even the caregivers — including the formal caregivers, the health-care professionals — to do a better job of caring, to better understand the patient perspective,' he said."

'It felt like I was back in control': Why dancer Morgan McCaul faced Larry Nassar in court (As It Happens)

"Dancer Morgan McCaul, 18, says confronting former sports doctor Larry Nassar in court was one of the scariest things she's ever had to do — but it left her feeling empowered. Nassar, a former Olympic gymnastics team doctor who admitted molesting some of the nation's top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him, 'I just signed your death warrant.' McCaul told As It Happens: 'She told me that even if I'm not dancing today, my words dance through the courtroom.'"

'I'm way funnier as a woman': My first show as a trans comic (Now or Never)

"By Lara Rae, as told to Now or Never: 'I've been doing stand-up comedy for over 35 years and I'm the co-founding director of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, which started in 2000. But since 2015, I've been doing comedy as a female person. My point of view has naturally changed with my gender. Part of my journey has been about finding my voice — my physical voice, but also my voice on stage. I'm way funnier as a woman because I'm myself. And when you're truly yourself, then you're funnier. Plus I'm happier. But I'm looking forward to a time when I will just be another woman on stage.'"

19 years ago, these two friends made the weirdest deal ever: they traded stories (The Doc Project)

"Pasha Malla's email went like this: 'This isn't my story. Not really — though I did earn the right to tell it honestly. I spent 1999 on a study abroad program in Adelaide, Australia. In that entire year I made one Australian friend, a guy named Mark who ran the student radio station. Before I left, Mark suggested a strange trade: "We're probably never going to see each other again," he said, "so I want you to tell me your best story, and I'll tell you mine, and then you can only tell mine ever again, and I can only tell yours."' After receiving this pitch from Pasha, we (obviously) reached out to Mark Trenwith. Not only did we want to know if the story was accurate, but we had to know more about the deal the friends had struck. What exactly was this deal? Also, what was the story Pasha had given to Mark? And how had both the stories held up after almost two decades?"

'Survivor artists': Exhibit highlights work of Sixties Scoop survivors (Unreserved)

"The idea came from a Facebook group for Sixties Scoop survivors. The Sixties Scoop happened in Canada from the 1960s to the late 1980s, when thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their parents. The majority were placed with non-Indigenous families. Earlier this week, a group of artists and Sixties Scoop survivors, who initially connected on Facebook, met in person. The artists, from across Western Canada, held an exhibition of their work called 'Darkness and Light: Survivor Art of the Sixties Scoop,' at Mount Royal University in Calgary."

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