A Life Refashioned

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Circling back to her own roots, Katillac has tailored the process for low-income owners of Habitat for Humanity homes, some of whom now use the skills they learned in her workshops—such as painting, sewing, and upholstery—to help support their families. Interestingly, she learned through her Habitat experience—a four-year pilot project completed this year—that low-income families often need much less help unlocking their imaginations than her wealthier clients. "Those who are stricken by poverty are forced to rely much more on their creativity," she says.

Katillac is now focusing on ways to reach many more people across the socioeconomic spectrum with her message of creativity as a healing process. She has written two new books—Kids’ Sacred Places: Creating Rooms for Believing and Belonging and Creating Sacred Places: Decorating for Healing, Inspiration and Renewal—to be released in 2003 by Jodere Publishing. And next fall, she will begin teaching a series of new workshops: a House of Belief–based design certification program for professional designers, a "community creativity" process, and one on using House of Belief as a personal journey.

Leif Utne is managing editor of Utne Online.

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