Moraine Valley graduate and Alumni Hall of Fame inductee, Eric Spruth, has been an art therapist for the Illinois Department of Corrections at the Cook County Jail for more than 33 years. His experience reaches beyond the local area as he has traveled the globe helping others through art therapy.
A 1986 Moraine Valley graduate with a degree in fine arts, Spruth said, “Becoming a college student was not something I was encouraged to consider. I was self-motived to achieve much more than I was encouraged to experience.”
Because he had a learning disability, Spruth was separated from his peers and sent to another classroom in high school, confined to a remote area in the school. He experienced learning in a traditional classroom for the first time at Moraine Valley. “For me it was a whole new threshold in life,” he shared. “In high school, only my disabilities were recognized, none of my abilities.”
While Spruth was a student at Moraine Valley, Dr. Irene Brodie in the Learning Disability Support Services Program and Spruth’s Department of Human Services counselor, Adreian Welzien, determined he had severe dyslexia memory impairment and exhibited behaviors on the autism spectrum. At the time, the Americans with Disabilities Act was established which gave Spruth access to vital services, including recorded textbooks. “It changed my life, and it became a daily core of my being – of who I am – from being an art therapist, to being a parent,” he said.
Spruth excelled at Moraine Valley, and he earned a faculty scholarship – a full scholarship from the Department of Human Services – and admission to the Art Institute of Chicago where he received a bachelor’s degree with a focus in fine art and religion in 1990. In 1992, he earned a master’s degree in art therapy. He later completed his art therapy credentials with the American Art Therapy Credential Board of Chicago and Rush Medical School.
Spruth’s accomplishments include creating movement and music therapy programs to the tunes of Led Zeppelin; re-creating a walking meditation labyrinth inspired by a cathedral in Paris for teens in a Juvenile Detention Center; and bringing creative arts programming to forensic patient populations. Art and magic therapy have taken him to every continent. He has helped hospitalized children in Amman, Jordan who sustained injuries from fighting in Gaza; has participated in HIV/AIDS education in South Africa; and provided help at an addiction center in India. He even has shared dinner with King Goodwill Zwelithini, who was king of the Zulu nation from 1968 to 2021. His list of impressive experiences is extensive.
Closer to home, Spruth is the founder of Sacred Transformations, the nation’s first Tattoo Charity, and is a dedicated single father. As for the future, Spruth hopes to join the U.S. Peace Corps. He also is in the process of completing a doctorate degree at Liberty University. “Our people need help in the United States,” he says. “I would like to see our country and our experts do more work right here at home.”
