Kimberly Kirklin, MA, ALC, NCC
Early in her career, Kimberly Kirklin, MA, ALC, NCC, helped bring artists into local schools and children to performances at UAB’s Alys Stephens Center. Musicians, poets, and other artists lit up students’ imaginations, helping them discover new possibilities in familiar schoolwork. It left her wondering: If the arts could get children excited about doing an English assignment, what else could they do?
She began exploring what the arts and artists could offer for health and well-being. As director of ArtPlay, the Alys Stephens Center’s education and community engagement initiative, Kirklin began working with children from an inpatient psychiatric unit who came each month for art-making and other creative experiences. Around the same time, she received a pilot grant to bring the arts into subsidized senior living facilities to promote social connection, cognitive stimulation, self-esteem, and confidence.
At UAB Arts in Medicine (AIM), which she helped launch as a pilot in 2013 and where she serves as senior director, Kirklin has built programs that bring artists into hospitals and community settings.
“Seeing how the arts can help you connect with the person beyond the diagnosis and help them reconnect with who they are outside the hospital opened up a new world for me,” Kirklin said. Her own training reflects that interdisciplinary path: She holds degrees in musical theater, arts administration, arts in medicine, and counseling and is pursuing a PhD in health behavior.
Now, as an assistant professor in UAB’s Department of Occupational Therapy, Kirklin is bringing her arts-in-health expertise into a field whose focus on the whole person and on participation in meaningful activity closely aligns with her own work.
Expanding the partnership
Kirklin’s collaboration with the Department of Occupational Therapy began in 2016, when UAB AIM artist in residence Kevin Spencer, PhD, an illusionist and educator, introduced occupational therapy students to the therapeutic use of magic. That first workshop grew into an annual summer Magic Camp, where children with disabilities learn to perform magic tricks, a process that can help them practice fine motor movements and build social skills.
Her work with the department expanded into research with Professor of Occupational Therapy Hon Yuen, PhD, examining the health and social effects of activities such as theater and magic. In 2025, Kirklin and Yuen published results from a randomized controlled trial involving a theater-training program for older adults living in subsidized housing. Sessions included physical and vocal warmups, skits, and improvisation. After 10 weeks, participants showed short-term gains in balance and fewer falls.
Creating a new graduate certificate
Since joining the occupational therapy faculty in December 2025, Kirklin has been developing a proposed graduate certificate. The new program, Creative Approaches to Health and Healing, would bring artists and health professionals together, giving practitioners new ways to use creative approaches and artists training for work in health care and community settings. She is also working with department colleagues on an inclusive arts initiative for children with disabilities that could provide students with capstone and fieldwork opportunities.
“I want to help build the evidence base for the powerful impact creative expression can have on health and well-being across different populations and settings,” Kirklin said.
Collaboration is the through-line in Kirklin’s work across arts, health, and occupational therapy.
“There’s nothing I like more than working with someone who’s really good at something I don’t know about and creating something meaningful together,” she said. “That’s where I find joy, creativity, and possibility.”
