Helen Goren Shafton was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin, and a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. In 2006 her teaching responsibilities expanded to include two self-contained groups of children with a variety of special needs. After researching the field of special education art for help in delivering authentic art experiences to her students, she found a void and began developing her own curriculum. Four years later her book, Making Art Special - A Curriculum for Special Education Art, was published. And now, two years later, a second edition of her… book is available. Her work has been published in School Arts Magazine and Teaching Tolerance Magazine. She is a 2010 Rauschenberg Foundation Power of Art Award recipient.