The Camphill Movement came to North America from Great Britain over forty years ago. Its intention and founding ideal: to build communities where the individuality and spiritual integrity of every human being is recognized, upheld and lovingly nourished.

Camphill Village was started in Copake, New York in 1961 at the urging of a group of concerned people that included parents of young adults with developmental disabilities. They had heard Dr. Karl König, the founder of Camphill, give a lecture in New York City about the growing Camphill Movement in Great Britain. These families wanted to establish a Camphill place in America for their grown children.

A small group of co-workers from Camphill places in Britain responded to this need. In the beginning, a small farm with two houses was donated to the initiative. Over the years other parcels of land were added and new houses and workshops were built. The Village now comprises 600 acres of hills, woods and pastures, 24 houses of different sizes, crafts workshops, farm buildings, a medical care center, culture and arts center, Bakery, Co-op, Café and Gift Shop. A total of 240 people live and work here together in dedication to the founding ideals.

Camphill Village is much more than a provider of basic services for people with developmental disabilities. It offers an environment that is fully integrated — people of all ages and abilities share home, work and social activities. It provides many interesting and challenging work options and a healthy outdoor lifestyle. People in Camphill Village enjoy a rich artistic and cultural life, with opportunities for spiritual expression. The Village also makes possible specialized care, dignified work and creative activities for its elderly residents.

The source and continuing inspiration for Camphill is anthroposophy—the philosophy, world view and spiritual path given by Austrian scientist and educator Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

Anthroposophy embraces a spiritual understanding of the human being and the cosmos, based on knowing rather than faith. The insights of anthroposophy can help lead the modern scientific consciousness toward the rediscovery of the spiritual sources of the material world. Eminently practical, anthroposophy is the wellspring for Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and new frontiers in science, the arts, sociology, medicine and curative work.

As an inner path of self-development anthroposophy is also practical, rather than mystical, emphasizing study, concentration, meditation, the schooling of perception and awakening to fully self-conscious thinking.

Throughout his life, Rudolf Steiner lectured and taught in the major cities of Europe. In 1924 in Switzerland he founded the worldwide Anthroposophical Society for people everywhere who want to “foster the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world.” His insights are elaborated in some 40 books and over 6,000 lectures on medicine, agriculture, education, the social order, the arts, cosmology, Christology and many other topics.

Social therapy is the term we use to describe Camphill’s work with adults with special needs. Social therapy is the continual creation of a healing social and physical environment. A social therapist is a person who aims to discern the right thoughts, words and deeds needed to bring healing to a particular situation. Such discernment can grow through training courses and practical experience, but its true source is an individual’s practice of an inner path of conscious self-development.

A social therapist recognizes that people with special needs are themselves teachers and care-givers. Sharing life with people with special needs offers opportunities for self-knowledge and incremental progress along our individual paths of awakening. Gratitude, respect and reverence for the destiny of the other person are thus appropriate qualities in our relationships with each other.

What does it mean in everyday life in Camphill to recognize the spiritual integrity and unique destiny of each individual? It means thoughtful, loving consideration, in care groups and other special meetings, of deep questions concerning the person’s biography and present needs. What is the right work place for him so he can make a meaningful contribution? Which house parents can best accompany her in her next stage of life? What artistic activity or therapy might further his development in a particular direction? And how can I change myself to make my relationship with this person more vital and mutually supportive?

The practice of social therapy stands on the principle, articulated by Rudolf Steiner, that the only authentic and sustainable motivation for work is an interest in meeting the needs of others.

The results of good social therapy are evident to any observer:

Camphill villagers…appear strikingly capable, socially adept, calm, healthy, and content to the eyes of a first-time community visitor... the picture of disability in Camphill communities that a first-time visitor sees is one of physical and cognitive challenges that have somehow been ameliorated or accommodated so that disability does not set the tone of the community lifestyle.

—Kay E. Sherwood. "Issues in Translating the Camphill Approach to Care for People with Developmental Disabilities: Observations of a Visitor." February 1999.