About 60 km north of Chiang Mai there are several elephant camps where you can ride elephants, watch them paint etc… The Elephant Nature Park does none of these things, but provides a sanctuary for elephants that have often been rescued from hard lives either logging or working on the streets (less so now as this is banned in most places).
You are encouraged to get quite close and can bathe the elephants in the river. Some pictures from my most recent visit yesterday.
Link to the full page for Elephant Nature Park