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Posttraumatic Growth in Youth Survivors of a Disaster:

An Arts-Based Research Project
Elizabeth Mohr
Published online: 23 Dec 2014.

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 Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 31(4) pp. 155–162, © AATA, Inc. 2014
Posttraumatic Growth in Youth Survivors of a Disaster: An
Arts-Based Research Project
Elizabeth Mohr
Abstract
Evidence that posttraumatic growth is a potential outcome
in the process of recovery from trauma and natural disaster
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highlights the importance of social environmental factors that
encourage a growth response in survivors. This art-based
research project followed up on a group of youth survivors
(N D 11) of the 2007 earthquake in the Ica region of Peru
who had been active helpers in a 9-month art therapy
intervention. The current project, taking place 3 years after the
earthquake, explored how the youth perceived their
posttraumatic growth and employed the arts in attributing
meaning to their traumatic experiences. Participants had
developed a stronger sense of life purpose, a heightened sense of
perspective, and the freedom to move forward. The role of the
arts in bringing comfort and joy to others, and affirming
survival, was identified.
Introduction
On August 15, 2007, an earthquake off the coast of
Peru inflicted extensive damage upon the two small cities of
Ica and Pisco. Having a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter
scale, the earthquake killed 519 people and injured 1,211
others, destroying 14 hospitals and over 88,000 homes
(Pan American Health Organization, 2007). One immedi-
ate response to the disaster came from a group of faculty
and students from Terapia de Artes Expresivas Per
u ate meaning for such a significant life event.
(Expressive Arts Therapies Peru; TAE Per
u), a graduate art
therapy program in Lima. In coordination with the Peru
Commission for Human Rights in Ica, a local chapter of
Save the Children, and several arts groups, TAE Per
u con-
ducted a 9-month art therapy intervention program with
children and adolescent survivors of the earthquake who
had acute trauma symptoms. According to testimonials col-
lected after the intervention, trauma symptoms appeared to
decrease. The children and their parents expressed that par-
ticipation in the creative arts program had provided relief
and even a sense of joy during this stressful time (TAE
Per
u, 2008; Calder
on, Alal

u, & Zavala, 2008).
Editor’s Note: Elizabeth Mohr, MA, has been an art thera-
pist at the Fondation Qu
eb
ecoise du Cancer in Montr
eal,
Qu
eb
ec, Canada, for the past three years. Correspondence con-
cerning this article may be addressed to the author at elizabeth.
mohr@mail.mcgill.ca
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can
be found online at www.tandfonline.com/uart.
155
To determine whether these effects continued over
long-term recovery, I conducted an art-based research study
3 years after the earthquake to explore in detail the ongoing
experience of the youth who had participated in the inter-
vention. My purpose was to utilize art as a lens for seeing
experiences of growth and understanding through the par-
ticipants’ eyes. The TAE Per
u faculty were very welcoming
upon receiving and approving my proposal for research.
They provided access to the site and supervision throughout
the project as well as two graduate interns as research assis-
tants. They also introduced me to the youth workers at the
Peru Commission for Human Rights in Ica who were still
working with some of the original youth participants.
In this way I came to work with a group of young sur-
vivors, ages 11–19, who were regularly attending a youth
center in Ica named Casa del Ni~ no. These youth were
members of a performing arts youth group that utilizes the-
ater, music, and visual arts to inform other youth in the
area about human rights issues. Active helpers in the
9-month art therapy intervention led by TAE Per
u, the par-
ticipants self-identified as having experienced significant
emotional and psychological growth following the earth-
quake. Thus, they granted me an opportunity to discover
how they perceived their posttraumatic growth, and how
they employed the arts in attributing meaning to their expe-
riences of survival. I wanted to learn what role their involve-
ment in the arts may have played in their growth
experience, and whether creative work continued to gener-
Review of the Literature
Trauma and Posttraumatic Growth
Much current knowledge on coping with trauma has
come from individuals who experience great distress or
develop the condition of posttraumatic stress (van der Kolk,
McFarlane, & Weisaeth, 2007). However, there is growing
evidence that posttraumatic growth is another trajectory in
the process of recovery (Bonanno, 2004; Sheikh, 2008;
Turner & Cox, 2004). Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004)
defined posttraumatic growth as a positive experience of
change that may occur as a result of a struggle with difficult
challenges or trauma. Such struggles may bring heightened
appreciation of meaning in interpersonal relationships,
greater sense of personal strength, shifts in priorities,
increased appreciation for small life events, and a richer
interior life in the existential or spiritual sense. The authors
 156 POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH IN YOUTH SURVIVORS
observed that distressing negative events often catalyze per-
sonal development.
Children who experience posttraumatic growth have
been found to show greater compassion and empathy than
they did prior to the traumatic event, as well as demonstrat-
ing a more complex appreciation of ordinary experiences
(Malchiodi, Steele, & Kuban, 2008). The reaction of chil-
dren to trauma differs from that of adults in that the shock
and losses involved interact with the child’s normal devel-
opmental stages (Putnam, 2006). The heightened neuro-
plasticity of the child’s brain during critical periods of
development can allow for either adaptive or maladaptive
changes in brain functioning (Mundkur, 2005; Putnam,
2006). By adolescence, the majority of these changes are
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determined by life experiences rather than by genetics
(Perry, 2002).
Because the brain is most receptive to environmental
input early in life (Perry, 2002), it would appear that chil-
dren and youth possess considerable potential for posttrau-
matic growth. The provision of welcoming environmental
conditions, particularly those centered on the child’s imagi-
native capacity, may tap adaptive neurological responses
(Goodill, 2005; Hass-Cohen & Carr, 2008). Additionally,
psychosocial support through emotional attachment, com-
monly observed by people who participate in community
arts to help deal with difficult experiences, is a primary pro-
tection against becoming traumatized (van der Kolk, Perry,
& Herman, 1991).
Art Following Trauma
Art making as a strategy for coping with trauma is sup-
ported by research that suggests the importance of sensory,
physical, somatic, and body-oriented treatment (Chapman,
2013; King-West & Hass-Cohen, 2008; van der Kolk,
2006). Verbal or direct approaches sometimes reactivate
and reinforce the neural pathways through which the
trauma response is experienced. Art therapists have
observed that following a natural disaster people often can-
not put their experience into words (Orr, 2007; Talwar,
2007). Involvement in the creative arts affords expression
of the nonverbal aspects of the traumatic imprint in order
to safely access the memory (Talwar, 2007).
Trauma involves a rupture in one’s ongoing sense of
self-integrity (Watkins & Shulman, 2008), whether
from physical, emotional, or psychological danger. Har-
ris (2009) suggested that engagement in art making
allows entry into a liminal state that is located between
past and present experience where the rupture can be
repaired. Art making becomes a means of expressing dis-
comfort associated with the traumatizing event while
empowering imagined possibilities for how positive
change can come about, both within the self and in the
environment (Harris, 2009). After a disaster, life and
death may suddenly be perceived as inextricably inter-
twined in a state of interdependence. Trauma catalyzes
acute awareness along with a disorienting freedom in
the face of everyday choices. These existential concerns
can give rise to a heightened state of anguish or dread
(Kierkegaard, 1980). However, an experience with art
therapy can help a person find new life through a pro-
cess of creative expression and awareness:
Artistic expression leads to mindfulness, mindfulness leads to
creative anxiety, creative anxiety leads to change and action,
change and action foster expression, and expression deepens
mindfulness. There is a circular and reciprocal relationship
among the dynamics of anxiety, expression, and awareness.
(Moon, 1990/2009, p. 11)
According to Moon (1990/2009), because the
expression of dread is linked to awareness of life and free-
dom, the anxiety experienced when confronted with ulti-
mate issues is mixed with a sense of awe or exhilaration.
This emotional charge fuels the creative process, which
can then bring forth meaningful insights and a renewed
sense of calm. In the creative act both emotional poles
are present, providing momentum for potential recovery
from trauma.
Methodology
Participants
The 11 participants who responded to a request for
participation in the project were all members of Eclipse
Total, an activist-oriented performing arts youth group that
met regularly at Casa el Ni~ no to organize dramatic presenta-
tions for and with younger children in the area. The desig-
nated members of Eclipse Total were the eldest of the
youth attending the center and corresponded to the age
range I was wishing to study (i.e., 11 to 19 years). Each of
the participants responded affirmatively to my prepared
advertisement seeking young people who enjoyed photogra-
phy and who wanted to share their experiences of recovery
from the earthquake, after which we met to discuss the
project and record written consent. My work among them
was approved by the Concordia University Human
Research Ethics Committee and the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada, and was con-
ducted under the joint supervision of faculty from TAE
Per
u and Concordia University in Montr
eal.
All of the participants shared the following characteris-
tics: (a) they were youth who were interested in the visual
arts and photography, (b) they had participated in the 2007
art therapy intervention as active helpers, and (c) they had
been exposed to the basic tenets of art therapy as part of
their facilitator training and before embarking upon an
extended project of reaching out to other child survivors.
These youth, therefore, were active in a supportive and
highly particular environment. They had been promoting
the rights of working children for some time before this
project began, and they were well surrounded by proactive
adults in their community. It is likely that this set of cir-
cumstances, as well as their role in it, contributed in large
part to their having experienced a sense of posttraumatic
growth.
 MOHR
Art Therapy Program Support
TAE Per
u provided oversight of the research, as well as
ongoing supervision throughout the project, cultural liaison
and language assistance throughout the interview stage, and
an introduction to their partners at the Peru Commission
for Human Rights in Ica who worked directly with the
young participants involved. Located in Lima, Peru (approx-
imately 200 miles north of the Ica region), TAE Per
u offers
individual and group therapy, and hosts workshop training
in the creative arts in addition to a graduate degree program.
TAE Per
u’s extended intervention for the children and fami-
lies affected by the earthquake was based in an ongoing
commitment to work creatively and poetically with the
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whole of human experience. The TAE Per
u program is ded-
icated to engaging the imagination in order to create life-giv-
ing circumstances even in the midst of great difficulty:
Expressive arts therapies don’t seek to eliminate suffering but
rather to transform it creatively. It proposes to do something
with the lived experience, to grant it significance and value
through the transformative act of poetic imagination. (TAE
Per

u, 2008, Section 2, author’s translation)
The post-earthquake intervention in which the current
study participants had been involved drew inspiration from
the poignant Ica symbol of the huarango tree. The huarango
is a small tree that bears fruit in extreme desert conditions
owing to the fact that its roots can reach 30 meters in
depth. As TAE Per
u describes it, the huarango grows “in
the middle of the desert . . . its large roots search for water
at great depths.” Providing shade and fruit, the tree is sym-
bolic as “a source of life in difficult conditions . . . a life that
inspires us in the work of reconstruction” (TAE Per
u,
2008, author’s translation).
Research Design and Procedures
The current project was not undertaken in an attempt
to demonstrate a cause–effect relationship between relief
work in art therapy and posttraumatic growth. Its purpose,
rather, was to explore perceptions of posttraumatic growth
in youth survivors through and in relationship to their crea-
tive work. Art-based research involves a systematic produc-
tion of artistic creations as a means of understanding and
examining experience (McNiff, 2008). Arts approaches to
inquiry “allow previously silenced narratives to be articu-
lated” and encourage people to reflect “about themselves,
humanity, and the world” (Knight, 2014, p. 77). The proj-
ect’s 11 earthquake survivors were able to focus on subjec-
tive perceptions through participation in an artistic
medium that could communicate an experience otherwise
difficult to put into words. Because I was interested in illu-
minating the qualities of the youth’s experiences (Kapitan,
2010) rather than precisely reducing data and extracting
findings, art-based research was an appropriate framework
for the project.
The arts-based design drew on the technique of photo
elicitation, followed by art making and community sharing.
157
Photo elicitation originated in the simple idea of inserting a
photograph into a research interview (Harper, 2002;
Samuels, 2004). As a technique for artistic inquiry, partici-
pants take photographs of themselves or their surroundings
in response to specified themes or questions and later use
the visual imagery of the photographs as a point of depar-
ture in nonstructured interviews. Collier’s (1957, 1967)
seminal research on photo elicitation found that it acted as
an effective trigger for memory recall, thereby evoking a
more emotional and many-layered response from partici-
pants than interviews alone. Harper (2002) affirmed the
subjective importance of this technique, asserting that it
allows the participant a visual “voice” and a sense of expres-
sive agency, and thus offers rich insights into the experience
in question for both the participant and researcher.
In an initial group meeting I asked the youth to use
photography to express their ideas on three subjects: first,
what they considered to be their personal strengths; second,
what or who had helped them most since the earthquake;
and third, how they felt they had changed since the earth-
quake. For each of these subjects, they were asked to take at
least three photographs, and any remaining film could be
used freely. Assisting me in this initial group interview was
a youth animator who had been working with the partici-
pants since the earthquake and intervention. She was able
to mediate the exchange between us and verify that the par-
ticipants understood my Spanish, which was functional but
not fluent enough to understand all of the idiosyncrasies of
adolescent language. For each of the individual interviews,
described below, I also was assisted by a research assistant
who helped both with language and my understanding of
cultural practices when needed.
As is the case in traditional photo elicitation, our indi-
vidual, informal interviews began with an exploration of the
photographs the youth had created, which they had not
seen until then because of the time it took to develop the
film. This was followed by a dialogue centered mainly on
the above questions. Although I did not ask leading ques-
tions in regards to their posttraumatic growth, I did keep
an ear open to their spontaneous comments on the subject.
After the interviews, we extended the technique by creating
mixed-media collages with the photographs along with
paint, pastels, and various other media. Throughout this
process, each of the participants produced a visual narrative;
therefore, at the end of each interview I asked whether the
participant could perceive a storyline in the collage created.
Because each participant did discern a distinct pathway in
the collage, this visual recognition of “a line of growth”
allowed us to safely contain expressions and also to touch
on the subject of posttraumatic growth.
Following individual interviews, the participants pre-
pared an informal exhibit of the collage artwork, where
they also received enlarged prints of the photographs that
they had selected. At the exhibit opening, participants were
invited to discuss their collages with peers, as well as insights
gained throughout the research process.
The youth’s engagement in arts-based inquiry occurred
consistently throughout the 4-month project, first by taking
photographs in response to specific questions, and then by
 158 POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH IN YOUTH SURVIVORS
making mixed-media collages with their photographs and
organizing a small exhibit where they could share their
insights and artwork with the community. The participants
were always invited to provide feedback and suggestions for
the project so that they might engage in the research as
actively as possible, and this feedback was included in my
field notes. The field notes, which included my notes on
the art process, were analyzed along with transcriptions of
the interviews to form clusters of meaning from which
emerged prominent themes.
Results
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Several distinct themes emerged from the youth’s artis-
tic explorations of the posttraumatic growth they had expe-
rienced in the aftermath of the disaster. Honoring
remembrance was key, as was a need for relatedness or con-
nection to family members, friends, and community. Most
participants noted that they had developed a stronger sense
of life purpose from helping others and a heightened sense
of empathy, which confirmed research literature on post-
traumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004; Turner &
Cox, 2004). A number of these youth spoke of working
toward and refining their personal inner balance, in particu-
lar via artistic expression, which in turn helped them to gain
perspective in the face of challenges. Finally, an ongoing
movement toward renewal and new growth was joyfully
expressed, coupled with a sense of freedom in moving
forward.
Honoring and Holding
Figure 1 represents the home of Lucas (pseudonym),
which was entirely destroyed in the earthquake. The power
of the photo elicitation process became fully apparent to
me when we began exploring the content of this photo-
graph. I had been in contact with Lucas quite regularly for
2 months before the interview took place and had even spo-
ken with him many times about the earthquake and its
effects on him, his family, and his friends. However, Lucas
typically replied quite nonchalantly, citing facts about the
Figure 1 “Mi Casa” [My Home] (photograph)

n” [Destruction] (photograph)
Figure 2 “La Destruccio
earthquake rather than any details regarding his own experi-
ence. It was not until we studied this photograph in the
interview that he told me his home had been completely
destroyed, forcing his entire family to live in a small tent for
many months where they lost most of their belongings in
rainstorms and post-earthquake tremors. Because his visual
art expression opened a reflective exchange between us, we
were able to utilize the interview and art-making time as a
process of holding and honoring this key experience.
Another important image that surfaced repeatedly was
that of a historic church building in the community where
many residents took shelter during the earthquake until the
domed roof finally caved in. Those participants who named
“faith” as one of the factors most helpful to them in recov-
ery spoke poignantly on this subject. Although condemned
for safety reasons, the church was still standing during my
visit to Ica and, due to its powerful symbolic value for the
community, there was much debate as to whether the struc-
ture should be restored. One youth, Juan (pseudonym),
who took a photograph of the church (Figure 2) recounted
the desolation of the community in response to the church’s
destruction, noting that many believers had been led to
doubt their faith and some had abandoned it altogether.
Juan characterized his own inner journey, however, as
essentially beneficial; his quiet description of how necessary
this passage through doubt had been for him was eloquent
and moving. Jorge’s openness to spiritual and relational
potential had grown beyond its previous bounds, he said,
and this had left him with an altered capacity for such
awareness. He perceived this experience as a sort of
attunement for further discoveries in the face of the
unknown.
Figure 3 speaks powerfully to the subject of honoring,
and underscores as well the community bonds that can
occur in response to acts of courage and nobility. The
shrine in the photograph was built in remembrance of a
young boy who successfully escaped his crumbling home
but then chose to run back in to free his trapped younger
brother. As a result, the younger brother survived along
with the rest of his family, but the boy himself was killed by
falling debris. Members of the community maintain and
 MOHR
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Figure 3 Shrine of Remembrance (photograph)
regularly visit this site, which is viewed as a testament to the
human potential for nobility.
Relatedness in Community
The theme of deepened interpersonal ties emerged in
the responses of nearly all of the participants. Some
expressed their connections by joyfully taking numerous
photographs in one another’s company, posing in spaces
that carried particular meaning within the history of their
friendships. They all emphasized the fact that their bonds
of friendship had been strengthened immensely following
the earthquake. One participant described through his
photographs how the disaster had brought him out of
social isolation. Family ties were also a consistent theme,
as was a sense of belonging to the larger community. Par-
ticipants expressed gratitude for family members and for
grassroots organizations such as Casa del Ni~ no, where
Eclipse Total meets regularly with children who partici-
pate in creative after-school activities and homework
help.
Perspective and Balance
Perhaps not surprisingly, all of the youth spoke of the
coexistence of hardship and well-being, and many described
an inner process of finding balance in the midst of darkness
and light. Sofía (pseudonym), who was 11 years old and
the youngest in the group, took photographs of herself
accompanied by friends that she said represented “darkness
and light,” “the positive and the negative,” and “happiness
and sadness.” As she created her collage she repeated several
times that she had lived through both elements of each of
these polarities and that she perceived them to somehow go
together. I observed Sofía’s face and posture as emanating
life, curiosity, and joy all the while she spoke of the struggle.
The powerful image she chose to exhibit represented herself
“as an artist,” she said, “an artist who was happy to surpass
her goals and to help others.”
Another participant, Ana (pseudonym), described her
process similarly in that both difficulty and joy were
159
Figure 4 “Autorretrato: El Equilibrio” [Self-Portrait:
Balance] (photograph)
present, adding that her involvement in theater arts also
required her to overcome her natural shyness. Ana said that
Figure 4 represented her continuing engagement in creative
work that involved finding inner balance in the midst of
complexity. She highlighted the detail in the photograph
that shows her balancing on one leg, saying that at times
the work felt precarious. For her collage, Ana cut the photo-
graph into a diamond shape to emphasize this point. Ana
reflected that her new perspective helped her face the
unknown future by embracing both darkness and light.
Freedom to Move Forward
The participants spoke with great satisfaction about
their active participation in rebuilding their community fol-
lowing the earthquake and this asset surfaced frequently in
their photographs. Considering their ongoing engagement
in the community’s larger narratives of participation, safely
framed by the TAE Per
u art therapists and other commu-
nity workers, it is not surprising that the theme of freedom
and of moving forward in this freedom also emerged consis-
tently in the artwork. For example, Figure 5 is a photo-
graph by one young woman who captured an image of
birds being fed beside the destroyed church. She specified
that the flight of these birds represented freedom for her.
Another participant, a young man who was valued for his
leadership role in the theater group, completed his collage
by happily writing “y ahora adelante” (and now we move
 160 POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH IN YOUTH SURVIVORS
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jaros: La Libertad” [Flight of
Figure 5 “El Vuelo de los Pa
the Birds: Freedom] (photograph)
forward), and verbally sharing this message at the exhibit
opening.
Discussion
The emergent themes of honoring and holding, relat-
edness to community, perspective and balance, and free-
dom to move forward align with those formulated by
Brendtro, Brokenleg and Van Bockern (2002) in their
model for working with youth known as the Circle of Cour-
age. Based on First Nations traditions of child raising, the
authors identify four interdependent core values: mastery,
belonging, generosity, and independence. Mastery in the
context of posttraumatic growth arises from the discovery
of how losses can be transformed into strengths and “oppor-
tunities for giving to the world” (Lantz & Raiz, 2003, p.
172).
To achieve this potential state, the trauma is honored
and held within the safety of a treatment structure until
the person is secure enough to disclose the state of lived
terror that was experienced. The results of the art-based
project suggest that such a state may be more easily
accessed in an atmosphere of play and art making. Hon-
oring is a process of considering the losses endured long
enough to discern ways in which they can be trans-
formed. The discovery of such potentials is highly
rewarding, both on a personal level and in terms of inter-
personal or community development. The importance of
both holding and honoring surfaced in these youth’s
accounts and photographs, as some photographs voiced
specific losses endured and others honored the nobility
witnessed in the community throughout its recovery
process.
The subject of helping or giving to others in great need,
which strengthened ties to the community, occupied a cen-
tral place in the recovery of nearly every member of the
project. This element is not surprising given the nature of
the work that these particular youth perform on a regular
basis. Their ongoing participation in the creative arts in the
community reflect the values of belonging and generosity
identified in the Circle of Courage model (Brendtro et al.,
2002).
Mastery of the trauma also is reflected in the theme of
perspective and balance. The youth concluded that the
whole of the process—beginning with the TAE Per
u
9-month intervention and continuing throughout the 4
months of the current project—had fostered perspective in
the face of whatever might arrive in the future, as well as
deepened insight and understanding, and a capacity to fully
live both grief and joy, darkness and light. Art-based
research for the participants who inquired into their lived
experiences, and on my part as a researcher witnessing their
posttraumatic growth, offered a process of insight and
growth that became embodied within the natural structures
of time and space.
From an existential perspective, the 9-month art ther-
apy intervention offered by TAE Per
u likely allowed the
youth to confront their experience of existential terror and
gain a heightened awareness of their own freedom. In light
of this freedom they would have experienced a sense of awe,
perhaps even gratitude, alongside the terror they had wit-
nessed, which provided them with a richer, more complex
awareness of their own life situations. Such a state of mind-
fulness occurs in posttraumatic growth as a passing beyond
the traumatic experience and becoming aware of both its
challenges and potential.
Watkins and Shulman (2008) described trauma in the
context of natural and social forms of community rupture.
They proposed that people develop narratives that frame
their experiences of rupture; this narrative framing is what
will determine their capacity to regain freedom and
move forward. The “narrative of participation” (Watkins &
Shulman, 2008, p. 147) in the community’s recovery
carries a great deal of importance in regards to posttrau-
matic growth. Participatory creative arts, such as performing
in activist theater, joining with peers to take photographs
of each others’ lives, art making, and art exhibition, all con-
tribute to an ethics of hospitality (Watkins & Shulman,
2008) through which the youth could embrace openness to
the traumatic feelings of disorientation. This exchange of
hospitality or generosity can lead to the capacity “to bear
and contain the ambiguities, fears, uncertainties, and
uncanniness of a pilgrimage” (Watkins & Shulman, 2008,
p. 147). Such potential is achieved through the creation of
safe liminal spaces that allow for imaginative communica-
tion and a restructuring or reframing of the trauma to allow
for further growth.
Conclusion
This arts-based research project was not designed to
show a cause–effect relationship between the arts and post-
traumatic healing; however, the arts surfaced repeatedly
throughout the participants’ interviews and creations as a
primary source of exploration and healing. The process of
posttraumatic growth appeared to take two main forms:
one inward and personal and the other actively engaged in
the community. For some of these youth, their ongoing
applied work in the arts fostered openness to nuanced
 MOHR 161

insights and inward balance in the face of adverse circum-
stances. This enhanced perspective allowed for the develop-
ment of personal joy that was perceived as equal to the
challenges faced. Throughout the art therapy intervention
and subsequent inquiry, the arts provided a way of engaging
with the community and helping others. The youth under-
scored the important role of the arts in bringing comfort
and joy to others, coupled with direct verbal validation of
one another’s lived experiences where necessary and possi-
ble. The honoring, enriched relatedness, increased empa-
thy, and nuanced insights that these youth imaged forth
and described may be important indicators of posttraumatic
growth. Much like the resilient huarango tree, the arts-based
journey brought the youth survivors to a state of freedom
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