A stray shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds and illuminated the RCA building with a golden light. That was the moment when the vision was given to me that birthed Commonweal—a vision of a center for healing ourselves and healing the earth."

Michael Lerner

President and Co-Founder, Commonweal

The Commonweal Site

A place for healing since 1976

Located in the coastal town of Bolinas, California, north of San Francisco, on the edge of Point Reyes National Seashore.

History

The history of this land informs and strengthens our purpose

The Bolinas site was built in 1914 as a transmitting station by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, enabling wireless communications around the world for the first time. In 1976, Commonweal negotiated a 50-year lease on 60 acres just as the site became the southern end of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Marconi's mission to serve as a world-wide transmitter is echoed in our work today.

Commonweal History Project

Our new archive project is preserving the writings and history of Commonweal as well as the work of Co-Founder Michael Lerner.

Miwok Culture

The land where Commonweal sits was, for thousands of years, the home of the Coast Miwok people. May our words and visions join with those who came before us and be medicine for the brokenness of time, place, and peoplehood.

Our Bolinas Location

Commonweal's rugged, coastal land is steeped in decades of holding space for living and dying, creating, and connecting

Healing Circles Global

Healing Circles Global serves participants from more than 30 countries, with more than 100,000 service hours so far. 

Sense of Place

This lineage of healing is felt by Commonweal communities around the world

Site Features

Built by Marconi, and owned by RCA after World War I, our site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

The Main Building

The Main Building houses Commonweal operations, our Library, Gallery Commonweal, and the Michael Lerner Archives.

Gallery Commonweal

Gallery Commonweal is a 1,500-square-foot gallery with 30-foot ceilings, large north- and south-facing windows, and unique historic detail. For 25 years, we've featured arts that heal our bodies, minds, and souls.

Outdoor Art Installation

Behind the Main Building, artist Zachary Royer Sholz offers an artistic contemplation in the vacant, roofless “rooms” of the abandoned carriage house.

The Sandtray Room

Stemming from a Jungian technique and used here with groups for decades, Sandtray is a powerful therapeutic technique that facilitates the psyche’s natural capacity for healing.

Commonweal Garden

Commonweal Garden was founded in 1978 and developed as a permaculture teaching garden for decades. Today, is it the site of Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine.

As our network expands across the globe from our humble beginnings, we hold three questions with us:

Where do we come from?
Where are we going?
To whom are we accountable?

A Place for Healing

Be a part of the lineage of healing by hosting your group at our Retreat Center

Only if we learn to grieve can we keep our hearts responsive and do the difficult work of restoring and repairing the world.
-Francis Weller