Update: On March 28, 2017, the National Endowment for the Arts expanded On March 28, 2017, the National Endowment for the Arts expanded the Creative Forces program by adding four clinical sites to the existing seven sites that provide arts therapies for service members, veterans, and families dealing with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“I thought this was a joke,” recalled Staff Sgt. Perry Hopman, who served as a flight medic in Iraq. “I wanted no part of it because, number one, I’m a man, and I don’t like holding a dainty little paintbrush. Number two, I’m not an artist. And number three, I’m not in kindergarten. Well, I was ignorant, and I was wrong, because it’s great. I think this is what started me kind of opening up and talking about stuff and actually trying to get better.”

Hopman is one of many service members guided by art therapist Melissa Walker at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), which is part of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Maryland. Images painted on their masks symbolize themes such as death, physical pain, and patriotism.