Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

During the past 15 years, artists have established a remarkable record of innovation and success in institutional settings. Their work with hospital patients, prisoners, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, and others has shown that the arts can have a significant positive impact on the lives of these people. This book recounts the histories of 22 institutional and community arts programs across the country pioneering this approach through activities such as creative writing and the performing and visual arts.

Consisting largely of first-hand accounts, the book demonstrates how the creative processes have been used to address and solve some of society's most pressing problems. Included are case studies, research, and descriptions of the wide variety of artistic, educational, and therapeutic approaches utilized by each of the 22 programs. Also described are many of the financial and political strategies used to build and sustain support for these unlikely endeavors. This work will provide valuable insights for artists, educators, social service providers, and community leaders.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword
• Introduction The Elderly Inside Other Places
• The Nursing Home Setting
• Conversations with the Elders
• Dancers of the Third Age
• Susan Perlstein Elders Share the Arts Prisons Inside Other Places
• "Inside" Geese Theater
• America's National Prison Theater Company
• Jailin' and Writin' in Texas Arts-In-Corrections
• Art from California Prisons People with Disabilities Inside Other Places
• Programs for the
• Developmentally Disable
• Other Voices-Other Solutions CLIMB Theater Company
• Theater-in-Reverse The Short Centers
• "My Name Is Pat and I'm an Artist" People with Mental Illness Inside Other Places
• Mental Health Facilities Imagination Workshop
• Disciplining the Imagination
• Strange Apples Art Programming in the California Department of Mental Health The Adventures of a Do-Gooder at DMH Hospitals Inside Other Places
• America's Health Care System Duke University Hospital Cultural Services
• A Hospital Art Community Hospital Audiences Incorporated
• The Healing Role of the Arts Art That Heals
• Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Youth at
• Risk Inside Other Places
• Youth in Placement
• The CityKids Empire Artsreach Ensemble
• Inside Out at the California Youth Authority Young Saints
• "Didn't It Rain" Community Inside Other Places
• In Search of Community
• SPARC--The Social and Public Arts Resource Center Brandywine Workshop
• Printmaking and the Streets TheaterWorkers Project
• Steelworkers Speak Rebecca Rice
• Building Bridges Directory of Programs
• Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics