DUISBURG, Germany — As a private tour of the museum’s contemporary art exhibition began, there was little to differentiate the elderly visitors from any others. Gazing up at a copper sculpture of a large tree, a former housewife, murmured “That’s nice!”

“Beautiful,” a retired industrial mechanic agreed. “Maybe it will shake.”

Walking around the room, another woman pointed to the copper cones that capped the tree’s long, twisting branches. Did they play music? The former housewife drew up close to one, to say hello.

These visitors came from many walks of life, but most were residents of a local adult care home for dementia patients in Essen. And they were at the museum participating in a program for people with dementia.

Sybille Kastner, who runs educational programs at the Lehmbruck Museum here in Duisberg and is a pioneer in programs for people with dementia, gently brought the group together. She pressed a button, and the tree shook. As the room filled with murmuring voices, Ms. Kastner explained that each of the copper cones played a different story of sorrow.