Maureen Kellen-Taylor, PhD, joined EngAGE: The Art of Active Aging in 2002 bringing her decades of experience in Arts and Aging to serve its mission of EngAGE in Southern California. She has been Chief Operating Officer for eight years and oversees intergenerational programs and the signature Arts Colonies for which the organization has received great acclaim. After working as an Art therapist in mental health and artist-in-residence in public schools, she founded and directed Artworks at Mount Zion in San Francisco—a city-wide pioneering hospital-based program. Both exemplary organizations are recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dr. Kellen-Taylor earned an MA in Expressive Arts Therapy and a PhD for Integral Studies in Learning and Change in Human Systems. She taught in Lifelong Learning programs for over twelve years for several colleges and universities and occasionally teaches painting and drawing when time permits. A practicing artist, she received Artist in Residence awards from the California Arts Council for five years, and in 2005 she received the Directors Award from the California Arts Council for a life time commitment to the Arts. She has shown and sold work in England and the US. Born into a family of actors, artists and guild craftsmen, she notes that the acting gene by-passed her and continues on in the younger generations. She is currently on the advisory boards for Green Wish Foundation, Actors Fund Work Program, National Centers for Creative Aging’s Creative Caregiving Initiative and, when there is time, writes a blog about arts and meaning in life at http://regener8tion.com/.