ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on educational courses for older adults themselves using written reminiscence. It describes the development of an online course in Aging and the Arts for undergraduate and graduate students. The book explains ways in which theater was used in community settings. It examines a transformative theatre approach which engaged community activists and academic and community leaders to think deeply and share their thoughts and experiences about the invisibility of older adults within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The book points to the many ways in which tools from the humanities and arts can help students, community members, older persons, gerontologists and so on discover the "Other" in themselves. The goal of the humanities and arts has been described as "dedicated to understanding human experience through the disciplined development of insight, perspective, critical understanding, discernment, and creativity".
