Create and explore
with trusted guides

The team at Inner Garden has you covered

As you dive into creative projects, know that your facilitators are standing by to provide assistance, nudges, prompts, and support.

Attending a retreat also means putting yourself in the care of others so you can take a break from the responsibilities of adulting–and our excellent team will ensure that logistics align with your needs.

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“Pennie taught me to appreciate that my creativity comes into play in choosing what, when, and how I communicate. Choosing a path to take and then populating that path with words and numbers, painting the picture. Jackie showed me different techniques for using the brush. How to combine colors, how to combine the tools, how to layer the experience, in much the same way that we layer our language.”
- Kathy

We began as college suitemates, then housemates. After graduation and through our separate pursuits of post-grad education, careers, and relationships, we stayed in touch and, on occasion, traveled together. In our 50s, we began supporting each other's creative journeys through check-ins, resource sharing, and attending creative retreats.

We soon realized that creative sharing was our journey and seized the opportunity to develop and imagine our own creative retreat center. In 2023, we launched the Inner Garden Creative Retreat Center and never looked back.

The Inner Garden Creative Retreat Center is infused with the core values and beliefs that we’ve learned in our own individual and shared journeys. As facilitators, we bring the skills and practices of our crafts, but more importantly, we create a safe space for their guests to tap into their own intuition and inner artist and to create from the heart. Holding high vibrational energy in this space, we encourage guests to bask in self-love, self-respect, and self-honor as they explore their own creative process.

How Inner Garden Retreats came to be

“The retreat created a space where I could be both a writer and an artist AND have time to do both and let one feed the other.”
- Amy

I am wired to make stuff, all kinds of stuff: glass bead mosaics, jewelry, photographs and prints, gardens, canned jellies and pickles from the garden, DIY facial and body unguents, handbags from old clothes… But mostly, I write, because writing takes me inside, to that place within where I find myself, heal, and discover all the good things that I can create with words.
I have been writing all my life for school, work, and other people, sometimes struggling to find time to write for myself. That struggle taught me to make and protect my time and creative process, to make space for my stories, novels, and poems. You can find my essays, posts, some of my stories, and the link to my newsletter on my website and social media:
pennienichols.com
Facebook
Instagram
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I believe there’s a story in every landscape, every tree or rock, and I use my art to convey the energy of a location or moment of nature. I have been honing my creative skills my entire life, through dance, needlework, canvas, and photography.
Brushstrokes bloomed in Atlanta, where, in the embrace of mid-life and guided by local masters, I embarked on a vibrant journey into painting. Since then, I have completed master classes around the country, including The Creative Visionary Program. My current cold wax, oil, acrylic, and mixed media creations are colorful expressions of wonder energy.
You can read more about my journey and view my art on my website and social media:
jackiebegue.com
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube

- We both love the beach and ocean and took some of our first SCUBA dives together in Cozumel.
- We both love to paddle board and hike, difference is, Jackie’s good at it, Pennie struggles, especially on the board. Pennie might manage to keep up with Jackie, but she’ll need a lot more time to recover.
- Pennie tends to take deep dives before testing the water. She has tons of fun, but sometimes needs a do-over (or two or three).
- Jackie always tests the water before taking a dive. She might get started a little later but she also has tons of fun.
- Pennie loves to cook and she’s good at it even though she doesn’t love to stick to recipes. Pro tip: Cut Pennie loose in the kitchen for a couple of hours. She’ll come out with a meal.
- Jackie loves to zhuzh things —rooms, furniture, decor —and she’s great at it. Pro tip: Cut Jackie loose in a room for a couple of hours. She’ll transform it.