I understand what you are saying-- making sure that the elephants do want to paint instead of performing. I guess when I saw this video I thought of how elephants see- is this elephant painting the same picture taught to him or is it an 'inspired painting'
I believe that things have a consciousness and animals have their own way of communicating to us through the heart. To see this elephant paint reminded me of the dog who likes to skateboard!
I think it's a fantastic thing what these elephants are doing. What they paint does look like what they see, but are they trained for that, or is it what it seems. I want to believe that they are painting what they see, but I can't help but believe that they were trained to do the actual painting.