Juvenile Justice and Expressive Arts: Creative Disruptions through Art Programs for and with Teens in a Correctional Institution

About Carol Cross

Carol Cross Ph.D. has professional experience working with diverse populations of homeless mentally and physically challenged and street-involved youth and adults in inner-city communities. She has also taught at the university level. Collaborative projects with various social service organizations adhere to her belief that integration between people of various life experiences and learning differences ages and ethnicities builds community spirit. A visual artist Cross holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design Vancouver British Columbia. Her Master's in Education thesis focused on the social benefits of establishing sustainable community art programs and art education as social intervention for at-risk youth. In her efforts to build positive social change and raise awareness of violence as a social problem and with the support of Provincial and Government of Canada funding she set up a free after-school photography and writing program for inner-city teens held at a Vancouver college. In 2001 she founded Chroma Zone Studios and in 2004 awarded a Government contract she began working with incarcerated male and female teens at a correctional institution in British Columbia Canada. Dr. Cross continues to advocate for social justice and community regeneration through her work as an artist and expressive arts educator.