With autumn settling over Beijing, Tsinghua International School (THIS) held the first Parent School session of the new academic year Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
The event brought together members of the creative team behind The Paintings in the Village, including Xu Guoliang, the renowned painter, National Model Retired Serviceman, and real-life figure who inspired the film, and director Xiao Jianqing. They joined parents to explore the role of arts education in family life and the ways art can shape children's growth.
A warm, realistic film told through a documentary-style lens, The Paintings in the Village focuses on rural education and follows how art can illuminate the inner world of children left behind by parents working away from home.
At THIS, parents put aside their familiar roles for an afternoon. Sitting down with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, they experienced firsthand how art can become part of education, nurture a child's growth, and create a bridge between parent and child.
1 From Judge to Storyteller
For parents at international schools, communication can sometimes become a cycle of high expectations and limited emotional expression. When words of advice and instruction fail to get through, art can offer children another way to express what they may not yet know how to say.
Toni Dong, THIS Vice Principal of Operations, shared that many parents today find themselves caught up in intense competition, focusing excessively on their children's academic performance while sometimes overlooking the simple beauty of everyday life.
"This Parent School session gives us a chance to explore with artists what role art can play in our lives and, especially, in our relationships with our children," Dong said.
Xu invited the parents to pick up their brushes and paint "the of home" as they saw it in their own hearts.
The exercise quietly changed the dynamic in the room. Parents were no longer judges evaluating a child's work. They became storytellers, expressing something of their own.
As Xu moved around the room, he did not evaluate the paintings. He listened to the stories behind them, occasionally offering a suggestion about how an idea might be expressed.
It was, in itself, a lesson in how to see rather than judge.
At the heart of art therapy is the idea that creative expression can move past the defenses people build around difficult emotions and reach feelings that are not always easy to put into words. By creating art themselves, parents experienced something of the vulnerability and longing that come with self-expression. That experience offered them a new window into the inner lives of their children.
Perhaps most importantly, they will begin to discover another way to respond when a child opens up: not with a score or a judgment, but with acceptance.
2 When Art Speaks
The central idea behind Xu's work can be expressed simply: Art is not about mastering technique. It is a language of the heart.
For more than a decade, Xu has devoted himself to children in rural areas in Yiyang, Hunan province. He transformed an abandoned pigsty into an art studio and taught left-behind children free of charge.
Their drawings often carried what they could not easily say. They painted their longing for migrant-worker parents far away, their hopes and fears, and their desire simply to be seen.
For these children, painting was not merely an exercise in aesthetics. It became a way to give shape to emotions and find a sense of connection.
Xu reminded the parents that when children are unwilling or unable to communicate through words, art may be the one window they are willing to open.
Director Xiao Jianqing brought another perspective to the conversation. She spent three years and her own savings documenting Xu's work in the countryside, turning his story into The Paintings in the Village, which went on to win four awards at the Milan FFI Film Festival, giving the story of Xu's rural education work a wider audience and demonstrating its potential to resonate across cultures.
Xu is both the real-life figure and the practitioner. Xiao is both the filmmaker and the documentarian. Together, they offered two sides of the same story: Art can change lives, and those changes deserve to be seen and shared.
The Tsinghua University Center for Film and Television Communication provided the academic framework for the event. This session marked the first time its
"Tsingying Film and Television Aesthetic Education" project extended its focus from students to parents.
It was also an expansion of the project's approach, from rural communities to an urban school and from children to the adults who accompany them through childhood.
Song Jingjing, Vice President of THIS Parent Council is a core member of the project team. She also heads the Council's Parent Mental Health Club. Song coordinated and planned this event with active support from parent volunteers.
3 Impact: From Village to School
Renee Zhu, THIS Executive Principal, noted in her closing remarks that China's Ministry of Education advocates the integrated development of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor education.
Arts education, Zhu said, is not simply about whether a child can play a piece of music or produce a work of art. At its heart is the cultivation of aesthetic sensibility.
That becomes even more meaningful in an age of artificial intelligence. As AI becomes capable of producing and replicating more things, a child's own ability to perceive beauty remains uniquely human.
As "Impact" marks the school’s keyword this year, Principal Zhu said Xu's more than 10 years of commitment to children in rural communities offer a powerful example of what that idea looks like in practice. A small act of kindness, when nurtured over time, can take root and grow into something with a lasting impact.
Looking ahead, the school hopes to invite Xu back to campus to interact with students. It also hopes to see the artwork of Xu's students become part of charity auctions, with proceeds going to people in need.
After the event, parents shared their reflections.
Anna Liu said the essence of arts education is seeing children for who they are. Education, she said, is ultimately about patience, acceptance and trust.
Luona said arts education is not about teaching children to "draw realistically," but about protecting their ability to perceive the world. Every child, she said, carries a mountain within.
Duanmumu initially came simply looking to learn drawing. Instead, she left deeply moved and reconsidering what it means to raise a child. The goal, she said, should not be limited to academic achievement, but should be to help children grow into people who contribute to society, understand who they are and find a sense of value and purpose.
The event offered a vivid example of THIS' approach to school-family partnership.
At THIS, parents are not merely observers of education. They are an integral part of the school community and companions on their children's journey of growth.
THIS is committed to fostering creative critical thinkers who have roots in China and are prepared to lead in the global community. Arts education is an essential part of that mission. Through art, students can connect with the roots of Chinese culture, find the courage to think independently through free expression, and discover new possibilities through perception and creation.
When parents and the school move forward together, art becomes a language through which they can understand one another. Education is no longer an anxious race for achievement. It becomes a journey shared with warmth, trust and purpose.
Like green mountains, every child already carries strength within. What they need is not someone to reshape them, but someone willing to stand beside them, quietly, patiently and with trust.
