A RENOWNED artist who helped victims of Hurricane Katrina has used the same art therapy to inspire students in the North-East.

Despite tears and tantrums, Mackenzie Thorpe is impressed by the work produced by young people at Stockton Riverside College.

He visited last night to see their "Inside Out" artwork unveiled in a special exhibition and present certificates of accomplishment.

He was invited by Brian Hawthorne, college counsellor, to collaborate on a project with the art department about expression and feelings.

"He gets requests from all over the world but it was the world "therapy" in my letter that stood out for him," Mr Hawthorne said.

"When he is in the room he is so insightful. He saw through their facade and some went out crying during the first workshop.

"When he came up this week to see their finished work he said it "blew his mind", Mr Hawthorne added.

Mr Thorpe, originally from Middlesbrough, has drew on his own childhood feelings of loneliness and isolation to set up the No One to Catch Me foundation.

It helps develop the creative skills of young people aged between five and 25. With undiagnosed dyslexia he followed his peers into the shipyards at the age of 15 with no outlet for his passion for art.

He was eventually persuaded by his uncle to apply to Middlesbrough College of Art andis now one of the most collectable artists in Britain and received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Teesside University.

"I have done the programme all over the world for 12 years, I have rules, art is my life and you come into my church," he explained.

"At my first session at Stockton Riverside College there were tears but I'm used to that and I know how to deal with it, it's like peeling away the layers of an onion."

"The work they have produced is of a very high standard, we are all very excited about it."

Mr Thorpe, 53, who has a gallery, Arthaus, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, used his art therapy with people left devastated by Hurricane Katrina which struck new Orleans in 2005.

"It's not about learning to draw, it's about raising esteem," he added.