Advanced Psychotherapy Training

Humanistic   Existential   Narrative

Center for Culture and Sandplay 

Purpose

The purpose of the Center for Culture and Sandplay (CCS) is to support research into the practice and concerns for using symbols in sand across cultures. The research lens is a cross-cultural, qualitative, interdisciplinary study, through process research, existential phenomenology, hermeneutic psychology, psychodynamic, and social construction/ feminist theory.

Goals for CCS

  1. To maintain the organization and content of a library of symbols and images with research into each symbol’s meaning across cultures, from mythology, cultural icons, material construction, culture-specific stories, origin in natural science, use as culture-specific metaphors/ language, historical and postmodern references to media, movies, religion, science, fairy tales, poetry, and literature. Of special interest is indigenous mythology, cultural rituals, the evolution of images and meanings from paleolithic to postmodern.
  2. To gather stories from therapists to understand their experience of the projective process and symbol activation when creating their own sand scenes.
  3. To study the social construction of symbols and emerging meanings through the lens of social-cultural-political-intersubjectivity.
  4. To develop a narrative psychology approach for the use of symbol activation within sand stories and with single symbols.

Center for Culture and Sandplay (CCS)

Exploring the Meaning of Symbols Across Cultures

The Center for Culture and Sandplay (CCS) is dedicated to advancing research into how symbols are used and understood in Sand Therapy across diverse cultural contexts. Our work draws on a rich blend of cross-cultural, qualitative, and interdisciplinary methods—including process research, existential phenomenology, hermeneutic psychology, psychodynamic theory, and feminist/social constructionist perspectives.

Our Mission

To deepen our understanding of the cultural dimensions of symbolic imagery in sandplay, and to support therapists in integrating this awareness into meaningful, ethically grounded practice.

Core Goals

1. Symbol Library and Cultural Research
We maintain and expand a comprehensive symbol library—documenting the cultural, historical, mythological, and scientific meanings of symbols used in sand trays.
This includes:

  • Mythology and indigenous traditions
  • Cultural metaphors and storytelling
  • Natural science origins and material constructions
  • References from religion, literature, art, film, and media
  • Evolution of imagery from Paleolithic to postmodern times

2. Therapist Stories & Projective Experience
We collect narratives from therapists about their personal experiences with sand scenes to better understand symbol activation and the projective process in practice.

3. Social Construction of Symbolic Meaning
We examine how symbols take on new or shifting meanings through the lens of social, cultural, political, and intersubjective dynamics.

4. Narrative Psychology in Sand Therapy
We are developing a narrative-based approach for working with symbols—exploring how meaning is constructed through sand stories and through interactions with individual symbols.

Get Involved

Whether you’re a researcher, clinician, or student, we welcome your curiosity and contributions.