The Taos Institute is a community of scholars and practitioners concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value.

 We are a non-profit (501 c3) organization committed to exploring, developing and disseminating ideas and practices that promote creative, appreciative and collaborative processes in families, communities and organizations around the world.

We achieve our educational ends through conferences, workshops, publications, a PhD program, a distance learning program, newsletters, and web-based offerings. We work at the interface between the scholarly community and societal practitioners from communities of mental health, social work, counseling, organizational change, education, community building, gerontology and medicine. We develop and explore the ways in which scholarly research can enrich professional practices, and practices can stimulate scholarly inquiry.

International Journal of
Collaborative Practices

The Journal provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and stories from practitioners, researchers and scholars who utilize collaborative principles in their daily work and disciplines. This forum is intended to help preserve, produce, promote and value dialogical and relational processes and practices which generate new opportunities for collaboration -- toward contributing to greater success in our working and living together locally and globally.

The Journal is designed to serve as one part of a timely and valuable response by spotlighting important interconnected issues such as:

1) the juxtaposition of democracy, social justice, and human rights;
2) the importance of people's voices locally and globally; and
3) the fundamental need for professional collaboration.

The Journal is an open access on-line bilingual (English and Spanish) interactive publication. We invite your participation through the submission of articles and your responses through the Journal blog. And, don't forget to join our mailing list so that you can receive future issues and updates.

Brief Encounters from the Taos Institute

Brief Encounters from the Taos Institute are a way to share constructionist ideas with you.  Each month a member of the Taos Institute board of directors or an associate will share an idea or experience that might be an inspiration for you and others.

April 2012 by Diana Whitney - Relational Practices in Peace

January 2012 by Mary Gergen - A New Year's Reflection

December 2011 by Kenneth J. Gergen - Why I Am Not a Social Constructionist

October 2011 by Kenneth J. Gergen - What Counts as Social Construction? 

September 2011 by Kenneth J. Gergen - Social Construction, Politics, and Values

June 2011 by Harlene Anderson - Collaborative Inquiry: A Postmodern Approach to Organization Consultation

April 2011 - Visual Resources for Social Constructionist Ideas and Thinking

December 2010 by Jane Magruder Watkins - The Power of Language

October 2010 by Diana Whitney - Social Construction on Parade

September 2010 by Kenneth J. Gergen - Play and New Openings

June 2010 by Sally St. George - The Social Construction of Time

Taos Institute Newsletters