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Martin Gelber, a professor of architecture at Pierce College, is one of many cancer patients who

Hanging from a panel in the middle of the room was a drawing depicting the profile of a man in red and blue with his mouth open as though screaming. There to see the portrait were educators, students, therapists and cancer patients from the L.A. area.

The man in the drawing has wide eyes and hair standing on end. Its style echoes expressionist portraits, and it bears the title “Global Warming and War.” But this wasn’t a political protest or modernism exhibit: It was “The Healing Arts: Visual Insights into the Cancer Experience,” an exhibit of cancer patients’ artwork, which was held Tuesday night at the Jules Stein Auditorium and Conference Center at UCLA.

This particular drawing was created using the “scribble technique,” in which artists close their eyes, scribble, and then, with their eyes open, find an image in the scribble on which to elaborate.

“Making art gets one out of one’s self. It brings one to the forefront of life,” said Martin Gelber, who created the drawing. Gelber is also past president of the American Institute of Architects, a Pierce College professor, a gourmet cook and a cancer patient.

Gelber said art is a vital way to grapple with his esophageal cancer. Gelber and several of his fellow cancer patients take an art therapy class at the UCLA Medical Center’s Ted Mann Family Resource Center. This exhibition gave them the opportunity to present their artwork to the public.

The exhibit was also the project of Nishan Tchekmedyian, a fifth-year molecular, cell, and developmental biology and business economics student.

When Professor Paul Von Blum offered the students in his “The Critical Vision: A History of Art as Social Commentary” Honors Collegium class the option to either write a paper or put together an art exhibit, Tchekmedyian chose the latter.

Inspired by research he has done with the UCLA Cancer Research Institute, Tchekmedyian pooled resources, from catering to sponsors, for the exhibition.

Tchekmedyian is interested in the implementation of alternative or integrative methods in treating cancer patients.

“The way cancer is treated today with chemotherapy produces many side effects that affect every aspect of patients’ lives and their family’s lives,” he said.

Artists’ family members, medical school students, and nurses from L.A. medical centers such as Kaiser West Los Angeles and therapists numbered among those at the exhibit. Many attendees were enthusiastic about using alternative or integrative treatments to complement modern medicine.

“This type of therapy opens so many opportunities. Healing is not just about the body; it’s also the mind,” said first-year medical student Besim Uzgil.

Many aspects of the “Healing Arts” exhibit were collaborative. Under the guidance of Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, a psycho-oncologist and art therapist, the patients paint, draw, and make collages and sculptures, then comment and bring meaning to each other’s art.

On Wednesdays, the patients meet at the Ted Mann Resource Center to make art and find relief.

“I just empty my head,” breast cancer survivor Britt Olofsson said.

Olofsson said she appreciates her peers’ insights into her artwork.

“What I see is one thing; what my colleagues see is something else,” she said.

Gelber said the class gives him perspective on his problems.

“You come into the class and you think you have a problem, but you leave the class thinking, ‘I’m lucky,’” Gelber said.

But many patients say the friendships they develop are most important.

“The class brought out a lot of communication in the participants. It brought kinship, friendship, understanding, compassion and kindness,” Gelber said.