“My office has been transformed over the past year…and I am delighted with the response not only that I feel, but my colleagues feel as well.”
- Jane Sawyer,
College Counselor

“We appreciated the ease with which you facilitated discussion and led us in the creative process of expressing feelings with art. We feel fortunate to have had this opportunity.”
- Lois Krause, R.N.
Nursing Educaton
& Inservice Council

        The California Center for Creative Renewal is a garden retreat located in the coastal hills of Encinitas in north San Diego County. Formerly known as the Art Therapy Center of North County, the Center has been offering art retreats since 1981.
        The mission of the Center is to provide an environment of creativity, stimulation and professionalism, balancing hands-on art experience with goal-driven outcomes. “Organizations that unleash their employees’ creative instincts have a discernible edge,” says founder Ellen Speert. “They see beyond what’s in front of them and move into the future more dynamically, because their people have been given permission to access their inner resources.”
        The Center’s 1.5 acres include a fully-equipped Craftsman-style art studio and relaxed, informal meeting spaces, meadows of flowers and scented shrubs, a fruit orchard, a garden labyrinth, and a short canyon walking trail. Native and exotic plants flourish along meandering paths. Meditation benches provide privacy for reflection and expansive views of Southern California’s coastal hills.

Featured in:
The L.A. Times,
Ranch and Coast Magazine,
North County Blade Citizen,
S.D. Therapist,
The Publication,
The Spokesman Review,
The Cedros Review,
The Coast News,
Surf City Times,
The North County Times,
San Diego Home & Garden,
San Diego Union Tribune,
The Reader,
Today’s Local News,
ABC TV News,
and KPBS

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Some of our Dynamic Retreats:

Team Building
Multitasking and Role Changing
Breaking Through Creative Blocks
Enhancing Multilevel Communication
Anger Management and Beyond
Working with Diversity
Moving Beyond Limitations
Finding Stability in Times of Change
Customized retreats tailored to your goals

Our Programs Cater to Your Needs and Goals

        The Center offers half-day, full-day and multi-day retreats designed with the needs of corporate, nonprofit, and public sector groups in mind. We offer professionally catered meals customized to individual dietary needs. We also make our unique site available for annual strategic planning retreats or other executive group meetings where new and inspired thinking is essential. For out-of-town visitors, we can arrange hotel accommodations within walking distance.
        Designed around your organization’s goals, our retreats help your employees communicate, build trust, open themselves to new ideas, think strategically, and achieve more productive outcomes. Through creative exercises with simple art materials, wordplay, and interaction with nature, participants tap into their own creative resources and playful abilities.
        Enhanced communication, dynamic problem solving, increased energy, greater respect for diverse ideas, greater self understanding, and enhanced awareness of team dynamics are the most likely results from time spent at the California Center for Creative Renewal.