Our story

Off the Canvas was created by Bobbie and Caitlan - 2 best friends that wanted to make a change.

Bobbie completed her design degree in 2020, and not long after found out she was autistic. Bobbie began using art as an outlet for feelings she was struggling with, and found the benefits of artistic expression to be incredible for dealing with difficulties she faced due to her autism.

Caitlan completed her teaching degree in 2023, and became passionate about the lack of foundation subject coverage within schools, particularly art. She also found that art taught in schools is very much product based, meaning all children create the same depiction of the same image, leaving no room for creative freedom, the exploration of different resources, or allowing children to feed their natural curiosity.

Whilst on placements at university, Caitlan witnessed the benefit that art had on neurodivergent children, and researched the effect that personalised intervention could have on autistic children in particular, leading her to find incredibly positive results.

With both of them being extremely passionate about the same topic for differing reasons, and both having different skill sets which perfectly accomodate each other, they decided to create Off the Canvas.