A method and system for automatically assessing the mental state of a user from a drawing made by the user. The mental state of the user is automatically assessed by digitizing a drawing and determining and analyzing drawing characteristics, including color, objects, and location. Video analytics are used to determine and analyze user time characteristics and mood characteristics. The mental state of the user is automatically determined by interpreting the color, object, location, time and mood characteristics and to automatically select a user action. A machine learning algorithm can learn developmental patterns of the user from historical data about a plurality of the user's drawings and the characteristics of the drawings to determine the mental state of the user. The machine learning algorithm can be used in selecting the user action.