Mission
Mission
Our Mission
To support emotional healing through art & creative expression for those living with pain, grief, fear or stress.
What We Do
Art & Creativity for Healing Inc. (ACFH) supports emotional healing for children, families, individuals, and military personnel using our Art4Healing® method.
We assist adults and children suffering from the emotional impacts of abuse, illness, grief, fear or stress. Our individual workshops and community programs offer expression, encouragement, clarity, and insight.
ACFH also partners with schools, shelters, hospitals, and other nonprofit agencies to integrate Art4Healing® programs.
How We Do It
We give pain a voice and meaning by providing expressive abstract art workshops to support emotional healing.
We’re different from other art programs. Our Art4Healing® curriculum contains strictly guided exercises, rather than loosely formatted art sessions. These exercises are specially designed to elicit emotional responses. Participants leave encouraged, with enhanced clarity and insight.
Art4Healing® vs. Art Therapy
We are NOT an Art Therapy provider. We share art as a tool for self-expression and self-exploration. The structure of the Art4Healing® sessions makes clear that the leaders are facilitators of the creative process, not therapists guiding it. ACFH facilitators don’t offer any interpretation or diagnosis.
The focus remains on the participants in charge of their own exploration. The fact that this process is therapeutic DOES NOT make it art therapy.
Art therapy is actually a legally separate institution and field of practice.
Who We Serve
Our trained and certified facilitators share the unique Art4Healing® have helped tens of thousands of people use art as a tool for self-expression.
We also offer the only accredited certification program in the Art4Healing® method. Certification training is provided solely in the Laguna Hills studio.
Our workshops are in our studio in Laguna Hills. Select courses are also offered online.
We work with more than 35 non-profit program partners in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties, centered around six Core Programs.
Partner Agencies and Sites by Program
Here is the current list of our Partner Agencies. We serve a wide variety of Agencies throughout Orange, San Diego
- American Family Housing – https://afhusa.org/
- Illumination Foundation – https://www.ifhomeless.org/
- Illumination Foundation – Recuperative Care (Santa Fe Springs) – https://www.ifhomeless.org/
- L.A. CADA – http://lacada.com/2018/
- Laura’s House – https://www.laurashouse.org/
- OC Rescue Mission – https://www.rescuemission.org/
- Project Hope Alliance – http://www.projecthopealliance.org
- Regina House (Mercy House) – https://mercyhouse.net/
- Rosie’s Garage – http://www.rosiesgarage.org/
- Someone Cares Soup Kitchen – http:/www.someonecaressoupkitchen.com
- Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital – http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/cpen/services/Pages/MH.aspx
- San Onofre Elementary School – https://sos.fuesd.org/
- Working Wardrobes VetNet Power Up – http://workingwardrobes.org/career-success-institute/vetnet/
- Council on Aging Southern California – http://www.coasc.org/
- City of San Juan Capistrano Senior Community Center – http://sanjuancapistrano.org/Departments/Community-Services
- Florence Sylvester Senior Center – https://www.agewellseniorservices.org/senior-centers/
- La Habra Family Resource Center
- Project ACCESS – https://www.project-access.org/
- City of Stanton – http://ci.stanton.ca.us/Departments/Community-Services/Recreation-Classes-and-Activities
- Holder Elementary School GRIP Program
- Twila Reid School
- Families and Communities Together (FaCT) – http://factoc.org
- Corbin Family Resource Center
- Family Oasis Family Resource Center
- Friendly Center Family Resource Center Orange
- Friendly Center Family Resource Center Placentia
- La Habra Family Resource Center
- Minnie St Family Resource Center
- Oak View Family Resource Center
- Orange Family Resource Center
- Stanton Family Resource Center
- Westminster Family Resource Center
- Costa Mesa Family Resource Center
- Girls, Inc. LA – https://www.girlsincla.org/
- Orange County Department of Education Alternative, Community, and Correctional Education Schools and Services (ACCESS) – http://www.ocde.us/ACCESS/Pages/default.aspx
- 17th & Ross ACCESS School
- Harbor Learning Center
- Mission Viejo ACCESS School
- San Juan Education Center
- Santiago Creek Community School
- Fountain Valley Education Center
- Project ACCESS – https://www.project-access.org/
- Western Youth Services (same sites of FaCT) – http://www.westernyouthservices.org/
- Westminster Boys & Girls Club – https://bgcwestminster.org/
- Human Options – https://humanoptions.org/services/
- Waymakers – https://waymakersoc.org/
- Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) – https://www.choc.org/
- Southern California Hospice Association – https://www.socalhospicefoundation.org/
Youth Leadership and Mentoring
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County – https://www.ocbigs.org/
- Court Appointed Specialists of Orange County (Casa OC) – https://www.casaoc.org/
- KidWorks – https://www.kidworksoc.org/
How We Started
The history of Art & Creativity for Healing has an interesting beginning. Laurie Zagon went from being a New York artist and university professor to facilitating a workshop for overworked Wall Street executives.
Zagon asked the executives if they wanted to take the semester course she was teaching at the City University of New York.
“No! We just want to take one class and mess up a canvas for a few hours.”
Within twenty minutes, the Armani-clad executives had become
She knew she was on to something. Her innovative philosophy is summed up in this quote:
In Laurie's Words
Laurie Zagon was interviewed by host Dawn Kamber on Saddleback college radio. In it, she did a wonderful job truly clarifying the Art4Healing® Methodology. This is a great listen for anyone interested in our Workshops or Online Courses.
Laurie Zagon was interviewed by host Dawn Kamber on Saddleback college radio. In it, she did a wonderful job truly clarifying the Art4Healing® Methodology. This is a great listen for anyone interested in our Workshops or Online Courses.
Help Spread the Mission
Tens of thousands of participants have found our creative intervention invaluable when dealing with life’s pains. It’s our mission to make that number grow!
As a Not for Profit Organization, we rely on your donations to thrive and grow! We take donations through Qgiv, a partner service. You will be redirected there to share your generosity.