We know leaders with lived experience make real change.

A woman in white pants and red boots dances enthusiastically in front of an audience seated in chairs indoors, with several people smiling and watching her.

Our Story

Art and Heart of Healthcare was founded by Tara Rynders MFA RN over a decade ago as The Clinic.

After being a nurse for ten years, Tara had an experience as a patient for the first time in 2015. She almost lost her life that evening in the Emergency Room. She remembers being passed out as they called a code yellow, the code before your heart stops.  A nurse grabbed her hand and said, “I am here, and you are going to be ok.” That moment changed the course of her life. 

When the nurse grabbed her hand, Tara was reminded of the impact nurses and healthcare providers have — of the joy and sacred calling that comes from caring for another human being in the midst of suffering. 

When she recovered, Tara began researching patient outcomes. She learned that compassion fatigue and burnout were stealing the joy that comes from caring for others, and because of this, patients were suffering. This is when Art and Heart of Healthcare was born. 

In the ten years since, Art and Heart of Healthcare has worked with thousands of caregivers, leaders and healthcare providers in dozens of systems across the U.S. and Europe.

Through innovative, embodied, arts-based programming, we come alongside caregivers to reduce compassion fatigue and burnout.

Led by a fierce belief in the power of courageous care, we collaborate with systems, teams and individual caregivers to create joy, fulfillment, and belonging for the people who give everything. 

The Art and Heart of Healthcare is a non-profit organization committed to centering human work.

Two women exchanging flowers and water in a glass pitcher at a table with a vase of colorful flowers, in an indoor setting.
A table with art supplies, including markers and a centerpiece of yellow and white flowers in a clear bowl, with colorful paintings on the wall in the background.
Person standing inside a heart-shaped arrangement of flower stems, yellow and pink flowers, with scattered flower petals on a green carpeted floor.
A person in a pink long sleeve shirt reaching for or placing a wooden musical instrument amidst various wooden and plastic musical toys and instruments on a light-colored surface.