VALDOSTA — Art is therapeutic both in practice and in observation. Creating art can be thrilling when a piece is successful. Observing a piece of art can set the mind, body and soul at ease.

If you don’t believe it, then check out the second Southern Artists League’s Art That Makes You Healthy Exhibition opening with a free, public reception today at Smith Northview Hospital.

The exhibit is a natural extension of Smith Northview Hospital’s regular series of art displays throughout the year.

Given the hospital’s mission of health care and providing regular exhibit space for works by Southern Artists League artists, an exhibit devoted to the concept of health is a solid fit.

Such exhibits are also part of a national movement, says Dr. Stephen Lahr of VSU Art. Similar exhibits are displayed throughout the U.S. There is a Society for the Arts in Healthcare, which is “dedicated to demonstrating the valuable roles the arts can play in enhancing the healing process; advocating for the integration of the arts into the environment and delivery of care within health-care facilities; assisting in the professional development and management of arts programming for health-care populations; providing resources and education to health-care and arts professionals; and encouraging and supporting research and investigation into the beneficial effects of the arts in health care.”

A sneak peek at a few of the works in the Smith Northview Hospital’s Art That Makes You Feel Healthy Exhibition reveals works that definitely will make you smile and elicit a few oohs and aahs, too.

These photos are also not what many may expect from an art show dedicated to the theme of health. One could mistakenly think that such an exhibit includes paintings of the human body or drawings that look like anatomical graphs of the circulatory system similar to ones in school health classes; or a three-dimensional sculpture of a human heart or brain.

No, these are not those types of works. Instead, the Southern Artists League artists share works that will get the heart beating, get the circulation going, and keep the brain thinking.

The first Art That Makes You Healthy Exhibition was held in the fall of 2006 at Smith Northview.

• GALLERY

Southern Artists League’s Art That Makes You Healthy Exhibition.

When: The show opens with a free, public reception, 5-7 p.m. today, and will continue through the next several weeks.

Where: Smith Northview Hospital, 4280 North Valdosta Road.