Commonweal - Brochure

since 1976

health & healing education & the arts environment & justice

COMMONWEAL

COMMONWEAL

COMMONWEAL

started with a vision. In 1975,

Michael Lerner was walking at the edge of the small coastal town of Bolinas just north of San Francisco. He looked out across grasslands and woods at an old RCA radio transmitter facility on a bluff overlooking the ocean. He imagined that this site could be a center for work in healing people and healing the earth.

Michael joined with two friends, child care worker Carolyn Brown and conservationist Burr Heneman, to create Commonweal. After negotiations with RCA and the Trust for Public Lands, Commonweal was given a 50-year lease on 60 acres as the site became the southern end of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Commonweal’s site includes a main office building, our Retreat Center, and a permaculture garden.

Today, Commonweal works in three core fields—health and healing, art and education, and environment and justice. Within those fields, Commonweal incubates and supports more than a dozen different programs working with cancer, environmental health, adult learning, yoga, healing nutrition, permaculture gardening, and juvenile justice.

JOIN O UR CO MMUNITY There are many ways to join the Commonweal community—including making a donation, attending one of our New School or other program events, participating in one of the Collaborative for Health and the Environment calls, or volunteering your time and skills.

BOARD Catherine Dodd

Commonweal Board of Directors

Lindy Rose Graham

Commonweal Board of Directors

Eric Karpeles

Commonweal Board of Directors

Marty Krasney

Commonweal Board of Directors

Michael Lerner

President and Co-founder

Hanmin Liu

Commonweal Board of Directors

Tom Sargent

Commonweal Board of Directors

©2016 Commonweal, P.O. Box 316, Bolinas, CA 94924

COMMONWEAL | commonweal.org

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since 1976

programs health & healing

education & the arts

environment & justice

Cancer Research Initiative

The New School (TNS)

Collaborative on Health and the Environment

Commonweal Cancer Help Program

Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)

Healing Circles Healing Circles Commonweal Healing Circles Langley Healing Circles Houston Healing Kitchens Institute Healing Yoga Foundation

Juvenile Justice Program Center for Creative Community (C3) Power of Hope Youth Camp

Biomonitoring Resource Center SafetyNEST

Creative Facilitation Training Series

QuickStart Community Based Participatory Research Training

Commonweal Fall Gathering Ecology of Awakening Regenerative Design Institute at Commonweal Garden

COMMONWEAL | commonweal.org

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since 1976

health & healing

HEALING OURSELVES and healing the earth is Commonweal’s mission — and has been so for four decades. We care about at-risk children, people with cancer, health professionals, and the healing that comes from caring for the earth. We care equally about healing for the rest of us,

and about what each of us needs to heal.

Our programs in the field of health and healing are deep and diverse. The Commonweal Cancer Help Program, featured by Bill Moyers in his award-winning series Healing and the Mind, is among the foremost residential support programs for people with cancer.

Healing Circles and the Cancer Research Initiative at Commonweal are both programs that help people with cancer or other forms of loss help themselves and help others. And the Collaborative on Health and the Environment is the premier global network for environmental health science dialogue.

COMMONWEAL

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commonweal.org/health-healing

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health & healing

education & the arts

LEARNING is an essential dimension of true healing, and it emerges through dialogue. We believe that we are designed to learn better through conversation, story, and art. Our love of learning and our need for healing

forge our destinies—individual and collective.

Our arts and education programs create spaces for learning and healing as a community. The New School at Commonweal has more than 3,000 partners exploring nature, culture, and the inner life in live conversations, talks, art exhibits, and musical events, many of which are available in our audio podcast and video library. The Center for Creative Community houses the Power of Hope Youth Camp, the Ecology of Awakening, the Fall Gathering, and the Creative Facilitation Training Series—all exploring the potential of diverse groups of youth and adults, fostering creativity, collaboration, and transformation.

COMMONWEAL

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commonweal.org/education-arts

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education & the arts

environment & justice

COMMONWEAL started four decades ago with a core commitment to the health and well-being of children with learning and behavior disorders. We worked with young people incarcerated in California

juvenile halls, youth prisons, and other institutions.

Today, the Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program follows in these footsteps and is one of the foremost advocacy programs for young people in California— overwhelmingly children of color from low-income communities. The Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center works with low-income and other communities exposed to high levels of toxic chemicals.

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment explores the impact of disparities on human health, and the Regenerative Design Institute and Commonweal Garden encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to build a better, more personal and balanced relationship with the land we live on.

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www.commonweal.org/environment-justice | environment & justice

commonweal retreat center is a breathtakingly beautiful space on the Commonweal site where we hold the Cancer Help Program retreats and other Commonweal workshops. Our three guest houses are available, when not in use for Commonweal programs, to small groups and individuals for conferences, workshops, meditation and yoga retreats, family gatherings, as well as individual retreats and similar uses which are compatible with Commonweal’s nonprofit purpose.

Pacific House is a beautiful and

Kohler House is situated in an open

Bothin House is secluded in a grove

historic 12-bedroom structure that sits

setting with partial views of the ocean.

of Monterey pine and cypress trees.

on the edge of a bluff overlooking the

One bathroom and three bedrooms,

A comfortable, fully equipped, two-

Pacific Ocean. Beautifully furnished,

living room, dining room and small but

bedroom, one-bath residence with

with a stone fireplace in the large

fully equipped kitchen and a wood-

living room, dining room, a large,

living room and a fully equipped

burning stove.

fully equipped kitchen, and wood-

kitchen and large dining room.

burning stove

commonweal gallery is a 1,500-square-foot gallery located in the Commonweal Administrative Building.

Starting in 1997, the Gallery has shown between two and six exhibitions a year, focused on the ability of art to heal our bodies, minds, and souls.

The gallery has 30-foot ceilings, large north- and south-facing windows, and unique detail from the historic nature of the building. Though not generally open during the weekends, the space is used as an events venue, with hundreds of people passing through each year to experience and enjoy the exhibits. Open Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm or by appointment.

COMMONWEAL | commonweal.org

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since 1976

Commonweal relies on the generous donations and funding from foundations and from individuals like you. You can make a donation to support the work we are doing by going to our website or contacting us by phone. Thank you for being part of the Commonweal community.

Commonweal’s beautiful 60-acre site at the southern edge of the Point Reyes National Seashore has a quiet and healing beauty as well as a rich history. It was first developed by Henry Marconi in 1912 as one of the last telegraph stops before he completed his vision for an “around the world” telegraph network. The building was later purchased by RCA Communications and then acquired by the National Park Service.

COMMONWEAL PO Box 316, Bolinas, CA 94924

| (415) 868-0970 p | (415) 868-2230 f | commonweal@commonweal.org Office hours: Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm PST