The “Formal” Bio
Ella Raphaëlle Dufrene, MPS, ATR, is a French-Haitian-American artist and registered art therapist with a deep reverence for the healing power of creativity, movement, and Mother Earth. She holds a Master’s degree in Art Therapy & Creativity Development from Pratt Institute (2015) and a BFA in Visual Arts from Miami International University of Art & Design (2010).
Ella believes that art is one of our most ancient forms of communication—rooted in the instinctual mark-making of our ancestors—and continues to be a powerful tool for transformation, insight, and healing. Her therapeutic approach blends clinical expertise with the soulful, symbolic language of art and somatic awareness, guiding clients toward emotional clarity and self-connection.
Her work is rooted in a holistic, person-centered approach, informed by nearly a decade of experience with diverse populations—including individuals on the autism spectrum, at-risk youth, people with developmental delays, survivors of trauma, those in recovery from addiction, and adults navigating anxiety, grief, and life transitions. She’s facilitated both individual and group sessions in clinical, school, and community settings. She is a former mentor at Guitars Over Guns and serves as the co-director of events of the Board of Directors at the Hostel in the Forest.
After years in Miami’s vibrant art scene—where her work was exhibited in spaces such as Art Miami, Jakmel Art Gallery, GAB Studios, and Wynwood during Art Basel—Ella’s practice expanded to embrace the wild intelligence of the Earth. Her passion for eco-art therapy, ritual, and embodiment led her to facilitate her first expressive arts, nature, and yoga retreat in 2016 in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Since then, she has led over a dozen therapeutic arts retreats in Colombia, the United States, and Costa Rica with a focus on weaving creativity, somatic practices, and connection to Mother Earth.
Currently based between Western North Carolina and Miami, FL, Ella runs a private art therapy practice and offers professional training in therapeutic arts facilitation through her signature program, Fundamentals of Therapeutic Art Making.
All who work with Ella feel her magnetic passion for creative healing, movement, travel, and community. She brings a grounded yet playful presence to everything she does, guiding others to reconnect with themselves, their stories, and their innate creative wisdom. She approaches her day-to-day and work with a zest for life, a youthful spirit and a contagiously open mind.
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The Story Behind Madre Tierra Retreats
The idea for the Madre Tierra Retreat began in 2011 when Ella visited the Hostel in the Forest in Brunswick, GA for the first time. There, she caught her first glimpse of the fundamental benefits of community living in a natural and ecological environment. The hostel quickly became a safe haven for her, a place where she felt free and empowered, a place that allowed her to explore herself and relationships with others. She continued to visit this magical hostel year after year without knowing where it would eventually lead her.
After completing her Masters in Art Therapy degree in 2015, Ella went out into the field as an art therapist. To say that this work was heavy would be an understatement. Ella started running weekly groups at an eating disorder clinic, a drug addiction rehab center, a retirement home, and a homeless shelter, all while working part-time in hospice and juggling private practice clients all at once. As you can imagine, she inevitably experienced burnout. Ella knew there had to be a different way she could do her personal work while helping others. Although she had found her passion, she needed to take a step back to find an approach to art therapy that would fulfill her as well as provide more benefit to her clients.
Ella knew herself well enough to understand the hustle and bustle of city life was not the path to her personal and professional fulfillment. After a time spent going through the motions, she decided she would leave Miami to undertake some volunteer work and soul-searching at the Hostel in the Forest. While she lived at the Hostel in the Forest, one of her jobs was to clear the hostel’s labyrinth, a space constructed of leaves, earth, and stone with a large, beautiful “giving tree” at its center. She did not know at the time that one purpose of this space was to ask the universe a question before entering the labyrinth, with the hope that an answer when come when one arrives at the center. As the raking began, so did the soul searching. Ella spent two full days clearing the twisting path leading to the labyrinth’s center. When she finally made it there, she plopped down next to the tree, and that’s when it hit her. She understood that she had to quit her job, leave the concrete of the city, go live somewhere in nature, and create her own retreat.
When Ella returned to Miami, she did just that; she quit her job, cancelled all of her contracts, and moved to an organic farm hostel in the Sierra de Santa Marta in Colombia. There, she hosted her first Madre Tierra Retreat. Ella’s intention was, and still is, to offer eco-getaways in which people take a break from their daily routine to quiet their minds, connect with nature, and tap into their inner peace. Madre Tierra continues to flourish and grow by providing a safe space that promotes well-being and self-care though various alternative, holistic, and expressive therapeutic teachings with an emphasis on sustainability and community living. Madre Tierra is exactly what Ella so desperately needed before she burned out, and what she wholeheartedly believes many others need, too. In the fall of 2024, Ella will be hosting her 9th retreat in Mars Hill, NC. Retreat planning and facilitation continues to fuel Ella’s passion and nurture her soul.
Her retreat's enduring ability to inspire and transform lives makes it Ella's most beautiful, fulfilling, and authentic creation yet.
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