Creativity, Cancer, Community and the Will to Heal

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The arts are innately healing. At a small visionary non-profit in Washington, DC, we offer opportunities for people dealing with cancer to use the creative process as an integral part of their healing journey. This presentation follows the art work of a young man the weeks before his death, as well as participants in week-long retreats who use painting inner images as a way to access inner truths, and transform the experience of illness into one of hope.

Stream: Art in Communities

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Shanti Norris began her education as an art student at Cooper Union in New
York City and worked with artist Peter Max. She worked for many years in
sales management and education for a European pharmaceutical company, and as
vice president of a medical software company. Throughout her career in
holistic health, she has utilized the arts, primarily photography,
filmmaking and visual arts. For the past ten years, Ms. Norris has served
as Executive Director of Smith Farm Center for the Healing Arts, a small visionary non-profit that
promotes the arts in healing programs for people with cancer, caregivers and
medical professionals in Washington, DC. Ms. Norris implemented a successful
artist-in-residence program into three Washington, DC hospital centers,
offering the arts at bedside to an underserved population. Smith Farm provides
a community center and Healing Arts Gallery at their facility in Washington, DC where people facing
health issues can explore every manner of visual, music, written and other arts as a part of their healing process. Shanti is a member of the CARRA Program at the National Cancer Institute where she serves as a patient advocate. She chaired the 2004 Society for the Arts in Healthcare National Conference in Washington, DC and was on the board of that organization. She is a founding member of the ArtConnection and a member of Art Table.