Local nonprofit harnesses the power of art to help veterans heal

There are more than 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. military. Millions more have been deployed to combat zones over the decades, across a number of different conflicts.

With the passage of time, there has been growing awareness of the invisible wounds veterans face when reentering civilian life such as PTSD, addiction, depression and cognitive injuries, all of which can create strains with family and loved ones.

Despite the increased attention, it can still be difficult for veterans to find ways of expressing themselves, to share their stories, work through the trauma they experienced, and build that sense of community.

Kathleen Ellertson is the daughter of a veteran, Clifford A. “Arlie” McMinn. She had a front-row seat to the harm that can come from unaddressed trauma and PTSD, and transformed those experiences into a space for healing, a nonprofit called the Veteran Art Institute.

Founded in 2019, the organization is an online gallery that hosts thousands of pieces of art created by veterans from around the country.

The institute’s latest exhibit titled “The Art of Veterans” is on display at the Mill Station Art & Culture Center in Rancho Cordova through Oct. 18. The in-person exhibit showcases works that tell veterans’ stories of resilience, healing and service.

Ellertson and John Nesbitt, an Army veteran and art therapist, recently spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about the therapeutic benefits of art, and of building a sense of community among those who have served.  

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Kathleen, this nonprofit was born out of your experiences. Tell us more about what inspired you to create the Veteran Art Institute?

ELLERTSON: This mission is deeply personal to me. My father was a World

Kathleen Ellertson (left), the Founder and President of the nonprofit Veteran Art Institute and her father, World War II Bronze Star recipient Clifford A. "Arlie" McMinn (right).Courtesy of Kathleen Ellertson

War II Bronze Star recipient, and he came home with invisible wounds… it was not understood that PTSD was something. They said it was shell shock, get over it. He was an air traffic controller if you will, Army Air Forces. He directed planes to be able to land in Normandy and in England, and then sometimes they would blow up. 

He took that personally and came home with all that guilt, and it didn’t make for a good childhood for me, but I realized all this in 2009 when he passed away. I have a degree in art history and I'm an artist myself, and I felt there must be something that could be done for veterans around art. I looked up a nonprofit that was doing something like that and volunteered for them. Did all kinds of exhibits, the first one I curated was a 50-veteran exhibit at the Pentagon. It was up for a year. And around 2018 I decide to retire… I always wanted my own art institute, so I started my own.

How exactly does the institute work? 

ELLERTSON: The Veteran Art Institute is an online gallery. Veterans [or active-duty personnel] fill out a form. We have instructional videos where they can learn how to upload their art and create their profile. Each veteran gets their own webpage, and they can upload as much art as they want and to be in community with other veterans. I think of the Veteran Art Institute as being at the intersection of art and community. 

John, you are an artist and a teacher at Mather Hospital. Tell us about your service in the military, and how you got involved with art?

John Nesbitt during his service in Vietnam. He conducted long-range reconnaissance patrols as part of Project DELTA before later joining the "Mike Force."Courtesy of John Nesbitt

NESBITT: My service was in Vietnam 1966-1969. I worked with the DELTA Project, which was an experiment that began Delta Force. I did the long-range reconnaissance patrol, I was an advisor for that. And then after two and a half years I went to the “Mike Force,” which was an infantry group of indigenous soldiers in the Mekong Delta.

Coming out of that I continued my education at Indiana State, and then came to Davis and got my masters. And with that, the art that I was doing related to a lot of things that had to do with my emotions from Vietnam, and other countries I worked in with the Department of Defense after that.

But the idea is to bring veterans into an understanding of some of the trauma they may have brought to the military, and then when they got to the military… how to take that combat experience and bring it back home. Break it down, understand it, and then work on something that can defeat it or neutralize it.

You have experienced firsthand the healing properties of art, and now you’re helping other veterans. What would you like the general public to better understand about the role art can play in someone's life?

NESBITT: Number one, it has the ability to give expression. And in the process of expression, other people then look at what you're doing and say, "wow, that was nice man. That was good." That increases my value to society. When it does that, I don't mind going back to doing something that has to do with art, as opposed to getting drunk Saturday night at the bar. 

I could be doing something else a lot better, and at the same time influencing other people with the art that I might be producing. Meeting up with other veterans that maybe experience similar combat experiences as myself, and we get to talk about it. The better we talk, the more it gets out, the more it spills out of me. And in doing so, I now become a value to that person as a friend. You're worthwhile in society now. 

Kathleen, you had the experience of being a family member and seeing the harmful effects of unspoken and unaddressed PTSD. Having now created this nonprofit, what have been some of the more rewarding moments?

ELLERTSON: One of the most rewarding things that I've recognized [are] the comments they write about joining the Veteran Art Institute, the role that art plays in their life, the sense of community, we have so many comments that literally just bring you to tears.

We actually group them into four categories… four themes:  art as life-saving therapy and healing, art as coping and recovery, community and connection, and finally art as purpose and legacy. One of our veterans wrote, “I paint my PTSD out of mind. I don’t want to die alone and with my paintings, I live forever.” And it’s that sense of community, but also being able to express what can’t be said sometimes with a paintbrush, with a pencil, with sculpture.

Mental health is really something that we focus on. Even though not every veteran at the Veteran Art Institute came back or was actually in combat, they still have things that they have to work out. Some of it is like John mentioned, they go in with something and then it still hasn't been resolved. Some of it happens when they're in the service, and some don't… some just want to share their art.

Creative expression doesn’t always come naturally to people, it might be intimidating or scary. How do you help someone navigate that apprehension?

NESBITT: First, you start with the elements and principles and design. Once a person gets a pencil and you get to make some circles, some squares, some other things… then I say, “alright, put this together as if it's going to look like a sunset. Put this together as if you're looking at the back of a city or something.”

Now once again with art, other people look at it and ask you, "What are you thinking? What's up?” Which gives you value.

Once you start exploring, that trauma that you had inside… that can be dismissed because you’re there for art, and the purpose of dismissing the trauma that you've experienced. Those two things become a direct hand-fight with each other sometimes, but that hand-fight gets reinforced with other people giving you [a] positive reaction. It’s the positive reaction from other people that allows me to fight more.