"We use art and music to help our veterans heal!"

Having suffered a traumatic brain injury and battling PTSD, Marine veteran Richard Casper was struggling to build a good postmilitary life. Then, one day, he took an art class and found painting gave him an outlet for his pain...and he began to see a beautiful new life ahead. Today, he helps other vets discover the same amazing healing

- Kellie B. Gormly

Richard Casper felt his hope fading. The Marine veteran had enrolled in Heartland Community College in Bloomington, Illinois, to study business, determined to build a new life outside of the military. But Richard had suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq that left him with short-term memory loss and speech difficulties. He also struggled with anxiety, back pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The damage seemed too much to overcome. He was failing his classes. I want to build a good post-military career, thought Richard. But I just don't know how.

Finding hope

Not wanting to give up on getting a degree, on a whim, Richard signed up for an art class. He had no background or particular interest in art, he just thought the class would offer an easy A, helping him to pull up his grade average. But his very first art project had a profound effect on him and changed everything.

Richard was instructed to tell the story of his time in Iraq through art. To use color and symbolism to communicate what he experienced there and how it made him feel. Richard had done his best to avoid thinking about what had happened during his deployment. He tried to forget the day multiple explosives had hit his unit's Humvee, leaving him with severe injuries and killing his best friend, Luke, right before his eyes.