Bio

Dalia Gottlieb-Tanaka, PhD earned her PhD from the University of British Columbia, in the Institute of Health Promotion Research and the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. She graduated in 1976 from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem, and received a Master of Architecture degree in 1980 from the University of British Columbia. After working in architecture for about 30 years and raising a family, Dalia returned to school to pursue a new direction in gerontology, specifically in the study of creative expression, dementia and the therapeutic environment. The Creative Expression Activities Program she conceived and developed for seniors with dementia won an award from the American Society on Aging and the MetLife Foundation. She continues to deliver presentations and workshops demonstrating the program in the US and Canada.

Dalia founded the Society for the Arts in Dementia Care in British Columbia and is the moving force behind the annual conferences and workshops on creative expression, communication and dementia (CECD). She is an adjunct professor at UBC and an instructor in the Architectural Science Program at the BC Institute of Technology. In 2003, she curated an exhibition of artwork produced by the seniors with dementia she worked with. More than 4,000 people from all walks of life visited the show at The Ferry Building Gallery in West Vancouver.