Opening of the Heart

Since 1990, over 500 North Americans have traveled with the Compassionate Listening Project to Israel and Palestine to listen deeply to people on all sides of the conflict...to discover the human being behind the stereotype, and build bridges of understanding and hope.

In the spring of 2001, photographer Beverly Duperly Boos accompanied a Compassionate Listening delegation with the intention of creating a traveling photo exhibition. Deeply moved by her experience with the delegation, Bev raised funds and returned several months later for a second round of photography. Compassionate Listening Project director, Leah Green, worked with Bev on the photo selection, stories and captions, and with a generous grant from the Marin Foundation, the exhibition was born.

The Compassionate Listening Project wishes to acknowledge Bev for her several years of dedicated efforts to bring the exhibition to Marin County, Berkeley, San Francisco, Bainbridge Island, Fond du Lac Wisconsin, and Chicago. In addition to the exhibition, Bev worked to create platforms for our facilitators to introduce Compassionate Listening in each community through presentations, programs and trainings. We are deeply grateful for her years of partnership, and invite you to view the exhibition, which is now expanded and available for booking through Bev's organization, Opening of the Heart. You can also purchase photos or a traveling facilitator kit to display some of the panels at your events.

Compassionate Listening offers a framework for reconciliation and healing in these deeply troubling times. The premise of compassionate listening is that every party to a conflict is suffering, that every act of violence comes from an unhealed wound. And that our job as peacemakers is to listen to the grievances, hopes and dreams of all parties to a conflict and find ways to tell each side about the humanity and the suffering of the other.


"To develop the drop of compassion in our own heart
is the only effective spiritual response to hatred and violence."
- Thich Nhat Hanh