Founded in 1996, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts is a nonprofit health, education, and arts organization. We serve over 10,000 people each year.
Our mission is to develop and promote healing practices that explore physical, emotional, and mental resources that lead to life-affirming changes for people living with illness and for the community at large.
Our work is
based on a single profound idea: that everyone
harbors the innate ability to heal even in the face of life’s most serious
challenges, and that ability to heal is enhanced by holistic approaches that
include the healing power of the arts. Smith Center is a vibrant leader of
the DC community—providing healing resources to individuals, families, and
communities affected by cancer and other serious illnesses—and was showcased in
the 2011-2012 Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the best small charities in the region.
We offer empowering programs and activities for adult survivors and caregivers, as well as support and creative resources for the community at large through our Patient Navigation Services; Cancer Help Retreat Program; our Artist-In-Residence Program; exhibitions and lectures in The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery; and our Community Resource Center at our U Street facility where we hold ongoing programs, classes, and workshops.
Our educators
include noted experts in the arts and health fields and topics include creative
writing, painting, diet and nutrition, exercise, and stress reduction.
Learn More about Programs offered
at our U Street center
Our Philosophy on Healing
Healing is very different from curing. Today, a cure for an illness is generally due to medical intervention that causes an illness to disappear. Curing is a form of repair, while in contrast, healing is a form of growth. We believe that healing is always possible, even if a cure is not.
We see healing as a lifelong journey in which each individual’s path is unique. Healing is an integrative process that encompasses the entire spectrum of our existence—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Healing evokes our potential for wholeness, shows us life and ourselves in different ways, making our perspectives larger and wiser. It helps us to find meaning by asking us what is right with ourselves and explores our most fulfilling ways of being, relating and creating in the world. Our goal is to support the people we work with in taking their next step in healing, whatever that step may be.
