Each organization created a core question as inspiration for their mural panel.

Guests were invited to collect coloring pages of each panel to make their own mini-mural. Materials with more information about the cohort organizations were also available.

Images of panels with core questions in following slides.

Are you safe?

The Domestic Violence Center of Santa Clarita Valley strives to create healthy relationships through intervention, prevention and education to end the cycle of violence. They believe that everyone deserves to live a life free of violence.

For details of this mural panel view the Domestic Violence Center gallery.

How do healthy connections build healthy communities?

Rainbow Services seeks to end the cycle of family violence. Rainbow Services, along with other domestic violence agencies, is part of a network that aims to keep families safe. They do their best to provide support and assistance for women and children dealing with family violence.

For details of this mural panel view the Rainbow Services gallery.

How can losing someone help one understand the self?

Alternatives Behavioral Health gives you real world skills to take control of your life again. Combining world renowned expertise of their physicians with an innovative approach to addiction treatment, their recovery programs offer a discrete supportive environment with highly individualized treatment options.

For details of this mural panel view the Alternatives Behavioral Health gallery.

Images of panels with core questions in following slides.

How can I begin to understand what domestic violence and trauma is?

Helping Hands Resource Center provides those affected by trauma and violence with the basic necessities needed to move forward and rebuild their lives. They provide resources, food, donations, counseling, support groups and advocacy.

For details of this mural panel view the Helping Hands gallery.

With our family, our community, and our society disappointing us, how do we maintain resilience?

The Richstone Family Center is dedicated to preventing and treating child abuse and trauma; strengthening and educating families; and decreasing violence in families, schools and communities.

For details of this mural panel view the Richstone gallery.

We love our community. How do we inspire others to help us take care of it?

JUNTOS cultivates a network of supportive services and grassroots leadership that promotes safety and wellness for Lennox children. Situated just east of LAX, Lennox is a 1.1 square mile unincorporated area of Los Angeles County that has high levels of poverty and violence, resulting in the experience of complex trauma for many of its residents.

For details of this mural panel view the JUNTOS gallery.

Images of panels with core questions in following slides.

What does family violence mean in my culture?

Korean American Family Services (KFAM) supports and strengthens Korean American families and individuals in the greater Los Angeles area through counseling, education, and other social services. KFAM specializes in providing linguistically and culturally appropriate services through its bilingual and bicultural staff.

For details of this mural panel view the KFAM gallery.

What does healing look like in the context of our culture?

Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF) helps Asian and Pacific Islander (API) survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and their families.  Services are free, confidential, and available in more than 30 Asian and Pacific Islander languages.

For details of this mural panel view the CPAF gallery.

Images of panels with core questions in following slides.

How do I define who I truly am?

Homeboy Industries provides hope, training, and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated men and women allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community.

For details of this mural panel view the Homeboy gallery.

How are we able to break the chains of negative stigmas attached to mental health in urban communities?

Second largest in the nation, the Los Angeles Unified School District enrolls more than 640,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. School Mental Health professionals promote the mental health, well-being and academic achievement of all LAUSD students.

For details of this mural panel view the LAUSD gallery.

How do we promote healing and traditional values to future generations using the strengths and resilience of our past generations?

United American Indian Involvement promotes and supports the physical, behavioral and spiritual well-being of American Indian/Alaska Natives in the urban Los Angeles area by providing comprehensive, integrated services that focus on all age groups and incorporate American Indian/Alaska Native cultures and traditions.

For details of this mural panel view the UAII gallery.

Viewers were provided information about AWBW and our Touchstones: A Creative Journey community art initiative before learning about the development of At the Core and the mural.

TRANSFORMING TRAUMA

As AWBW began planning a new community art initiative we selected reknowned artist Fabian Debora as the Lead Artist. This project would combine Touchstones with mural-making to bring art into communities throughout Los Angeles and nationwide.

EXPLORATION

As a part of Touchstones: A Creative Journey, trained Windows Program Leaders from 13 partnering organizations joined together to create a Touchstone Tree Community Mural based on the theme of transforming trauma.

For this mural, participants at each organization created Touchstones about what they were moving away from and what they were moving towards. These journeys of transformation were incorporated into the mural, as shown here in the panel created by Fabian Debora.

ART TRANSFORMING TRAUMA CONFERENCE

As part of our 25 year anniversary, AWBW held its first Art Transforming Trauma Conference to connect partners from human service agencies, socially-engaged artists, and the public sector. The focus of the conference was to take a trauma informed approach to fostering collaborative leadership by using art to meet the unique needs of our communities.

Fabian was the keynote speaker, and through his interactions on that day he developed the theme of At the Core for the mural community art initiative AWBW was preparing to launch.

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WHAT DOES “AT THE CORE” MEAN TO YOU?

AWBW partnering organizations from across Los Angeles County were invited to apply to be a part of the At the Core Cohort to create panels for a large, portable community mural. These are excerpts from some of the applications:

“At the core” speaks to getting back to the center or foundation of who we are as individuals, within our families and in our communities.

For an individual, the “core” can refer to the center of a person’s being — his or her essential and fundamental feelings and beliefs. Similarly, in order to address trauma, you have to get to the “core” (i.e., the root) of what caused the trauma.

We believe that all survivors have inner strength “at the[ir] core” to survive the negative experience and thrive beyond it.

“At the core” taps into the single most important voice of those who seek meaningful change.

PREPARATION

Fabian designed the central At the Core mural , along with a prototype mural to be used at a hands-on orientation for Cohort members.

At this convening, Windows Leaders from the partnering organizations created templates with their ideas of how the prototype mural could look. The templates  were then collaboratively discussed and various ideas selected to plan the prototype creation. The Cohort also spent time experimenting with art supplies and learning painting techniques.

CREATION

Over the next few months, each organization worked on their mural panel with participants. These participants went through the same template creation process as the Windows Leaders at their convening — combining their ideas together to create their mural panel.

Fabian visited each organization while they worked on their murals, sharing his story and giving support to the creation process in any way needed. These visits contributed to both Fabian’s and the participants’ healing process.

REFLECTION

The Cohort re-convened with their completed mural panels to share how the creation process had affected their communities.

The overall impact was profound — giving voice to those who were often quiet, bringing people together to work on a common goal, and revealing deep pride in their own identities.

Yet, this mural is only the beginning of At the Core. How can you transform trauma through art, individually and in your communities?

In the interactive Creation Area, guests were invited to contribute to a community mural, make mini-murals using the coloring pages they had collected, and create Touchstones to carry their experience forward.

Guests were also invited to create paintings and share with other visitors by hanging them on the “What’s at your core?” wall.

The paintings will be punched into circles and used in multiple communities to create Touchstones.