INTRODUCTION:
People experiencing homelessness are exposed to a wide range of social vulnerabilities, posing a challenge to promoting their physical, mental, and collective health. Promoting equity requires an intersectoral and humanized approach within the public health system.

AIM:
The university extension project “SALT AND LIGHT” was developed to promote health, well-being, and resocialization through art therapy and integrative practices, linked to primary health care, in the context of a permanent shelter.MethodsThis is an account of the experience of the extension project "SALT AND LIGHT" developed by medical students from the Higher School of Sciences of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM). The activities took place every two weeks at the Social Shelter in Vitória, Brazil, with workshops in art therapy, freehand painting and ecobag making, and caricature workshops in a collaborative way, focusing on the development of creativity and emotional bonds.

RESULTS:
Progressive adherence by participants was observed, breaking down barriers of social exclusion imposed on these groups. Through continuous actions, there was a strengthening of afective bonds, emotional openness, and active participation. Improvements in self-esteem, recovery of identity, stimulation of creativity, as well as a reduction in social isolation and strengthening of interpersonal relationships in the shelter were observed.ConclusionsThe SALT AND LIGHT project demonstrates that art therapy, integrated into university extension programs and primary care practices, constitutes an efective, low-cost strategy aligned with the principles of public health, contributing broadly to resocialization, health equity, and critical and humanized medical training.