Local Woman Honored with Ambassador of Peace Award

For years, Laurie Zagon has helped heal wounded souls through art.

The founder and director of has been recognized with the Violence Prevention Center of Orange County's Ambassador of Peace Award for her organization’s role in helping the county's children and families live violence-free lives. 

The group has partnered with many organizations in Orange County "to provide programs that give at-risk and disadvantaged youth and adults a non-threatening and violence-free way to express their feelings and reduce stress brought on by abuse, fear and anger,” Zagon said.

The Laguna Niguel-based nonprofit helps children and adults process their feelings through paint on canvas and provides free classes taught by Zagon and her team at hospitals and nonprofit community organizations.  Zagon has received recognition from Congress and the state Legislature for her work.

Founded in November 2000, the organization has aided more than 28,000 people through its Art4Healing workshops.

Among the organizations that the group has collaborated with are Phoenix House Academy in Santa Ana; the Orange County Department of Education Alternative, Community and Correctional Educational Schools and Services program; and Joplin Correctional Facility, where it provided its workshops to at-risk and economically disadvantaged youth with behavioral problems.

Most recently it aided Human Options—whose mission is to break the cycle of domestic violence—by helping abused women "express their feelings using paint on canvas and other artistic methods as a means to facilitate emotional healing" and help create "a sense of self-worth and inner strength for each of the women who participate.”

The "Zagon method" was originally developed by Zagon in New York in 1987 as a workshop designed to help busy executives deal with stress.