Our Approach
Participants are invited into an intimate, safe, and quiet environment with a limited number of participants to engage with a variety of professional grade art materials. Participants are encouraged to engage in art making according to their individual skills, desire, and capacity allowing them to choose their own project, as well as learn and share their skills with other participants and their community.
All workshops are facilitated by a professional artist trained in trauma informed teaching methods to provide arts activities that will increase individual and collective well-being. A classroom atmosphere is created in a way to encourage capacity building and skills, and the development of new relationships built on self-awareness and sharing.
Participants are invited to participate in six expressive arts workshops where they are free to create images and art works of their own choice and to “play” with a variety of mediums and materials including clay, mosaics, ceramics, wood and paints, as well as poetry and journaling.
A limited number of participants per workshop session are invited into an intimate, safe, and calm environment to engage with a variety of professional grade art materials. Participants are encouraged to choose their own project based on their individual skills, desire and capacity. Learning and sharing with one another is encouraged as well.
Distinguishing from “art therapy” models that may inadvertently pathologize unhoused women survivors of domestic violence, CC arts for well-being workshops facilitated by a qualified artist teacher endeavors who uses an integrative approach to facilitate self-expression and self-efficacy while encouraging participants to create art “in community.”
The teacher’s expertise is shared and offered only as requested by the participants to encourage self-discovery, curiosity, and trust. The environment is one of mutual accompaniment where everyone, including the artist/teacher is both teacher and student, alternating roles as the learning progresses and evolves.
The artist shares their expertise in a “co-creative” process. The participant engages at whatever level they are comfortable and capable creating a participatory environment.

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
Communities Create serves Los Angeles based organizations and agencies serving individuals, youth, and families experiencing homelessness.
Our goals are:
• to increase their sense of belonging and identity through a community art making experience,
• to provide a trusting, safe place where they can create freely,
• to provide opportunities for participants to support and recognize one another’s artistic accomplishments and to build relationships with others,
• to provide opportunities for participants to increase their skills, self-awareness and improve self-regulation, and
• to allow for individuals to create personal art works that they personally design and may keep or create as gifts.
