History

The Garden Path concept evolved out of the work a group of artists and street performers in Canada during the early 70’s. This group, known as the Chong, collaborated in apparitional theatre which provided the seed inspiration for the Spiral Garden at Hugh MacMillan Rehabilitation Centre, a facility for physically challenged children in Toronto. The Butterfly Peace Garden in Sri Lanka adapted the Spiral Garden approach to meet the needs of war traumatized children. Its “Earthwork, Artwork, Heartwork and Healing” paradigm became the template for other peace gardens in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. The main  centre of pedagogy for propagating the Garden Path process is the Monkey’s Tale Centre for Contemplative Art in Batticaloa with its auxiliary centre in Colombo at the Step-by-Step Studio.