A Brief (very) History of Sandplay.
Dora Kalff founded the International Society for Sandplay Therapy, (ISST) in 1985. Many others, notably Dr. Margaret Lowenfield, were involved with this modality and for further information about this please read Sandplay Past Present and Future by Rie Rogers Mitchell and Harriet S. Friedman. For further information about sandplay as it has developed from Margaret Lowenfield try The Sandtray Network. and Transpersonal Sandplay Therapy Centre. At a holiday retreat in Switzerland in 1944, Dora Kalff got a phone call from a neighbor asking to meet her. This woman was curious because she had observed that when her children returned from playing at Kalff’s home they always seemed relaxed and happy. The children had been playing in a tray of sand using figurines. This woman was C G Jung’s daughter, Gretta Jung Bauman. Thus began an association with C G Jung who was the founder of Analytical Psychology and had worked initially with Sigmund Freud. There are now institutes of Jungian Psychology all over the world. Dora worked initially with children but soon saw that the process worked with adults as well as children. In 1985 the ISST was founded to supervise the expansion and training of therapists. There are now national sandplay organizations in many countries worldwide. Not all of them are on the net but I include links to those that I know are. These are on the links page. There are many sites on the web dealing with the history of sandplay.