A WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS

Since 1991 A Window Between Worlds (AWBW) has provided art as a healing and empowering tool for women and children living in domestic violence shelters to rebuild their lives and end the cycle of violence. For the participants in the workshops, art acts as a reminder of the power they have to create change for themselves and their communities.

AWBW is the only national program that places the transformative tool of creative expression into the hands of front-line advocates, typically not artists nor art therapists, opening up safety, building trust and providing a trauma-informed model of empowerment for survivors.

Building on the capacity of each partner site to impact the lives of the survivors they serve, art becomes one of the strongest tools they have to break the isolation and fear their clients face.

AWBW currently supports 511 women's and 477 children's workshop leaders in 28 states with intensive hands-on training, art supplies, and an online art curriculum of over 500 workshops.

In addition to our long-standing core in-shelter programs, AWBW also offers community engagement projects to take the voices of survivors out into the community to raise awareness and inspire action to help end the cycle of violence.

While the primary focus of our mission for the past two decades was centered upon serving women and children surviving domestic violence, AWBW's trauma-informed art programs are now being called upon to serve in a broadened context. It is clear that expanding our scope across sectors to reach boys and men, veterans and their families, survivors of sexual assault, and batterer's intervention programs is essential to our next phase of community impact.

Through partnership with agencies serving trauma survivors in various fields, these next two years will be a capacity building period as AWBW conducts research and builds the resources and infrastructure necessary to meet this expanded scope.

Art and Healing:

Brain research shows the area of the brain that “disconnects” first in trauma is the area that is activated when we engage in expressive art-making. This part of the brain is related to our sense of well-being and our ability to cohesively connect thoughts. The process of creative expression increases our sense of wholeness and gives us a sense of connection to a larger community. (Carol Caddes, “Healing from Trauma—Art and the Brain,” 2001)

During 2013 the AWBW art programs served over 19,000 survivors nationwide:

Dealing With Feelings
96% of the workshops helped the women to deal constructively with feelings, such as releasing anger and pain.

Breakthroughs
99% of the leaders found the women's program succeeded in helping participants develop the confidence/self-esteem they need to break with the past and start new lives.

Handling Anger Positively
100% of the leaders reported that the art workshops helped the children to communicate in a non-violent way.

Healthy Relationships
98% of the leaders observed that the Windows program made a positive difference in the children's relationships with their parents and/or siblings, and 99% observed a positive impact on relationships with peers.