Chris Appleton

Chris Appleton is the Founder and CEO of Art Pharmacy, a solution for healthcare providers to prescribe and refer patients to arts & culture interventions benefiting their mental health. Appleton’s vision for Art Pharmacy imagines the U.S. healthcare ecosystem adopting arts-based social prescribing as a critical part of an impact-driven mental health field.

Appleton and his work have been featured in the New York Times, CNN, ABC, CBS, NPR, TEDx, Fast Company, and more.

Appleton’s strong commitment to servant leadership, family and civic engagement has led him to be bestowed numerous awards and honors, including the Americans for the Arts National Emerging Leader Award, Emory Center for Creativity and the Arts Community Impact Award, Atlanta Business Chronicle 40 Under 40, Georgia Trend’s 100 Notable Georgians, World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers, New Leaders Council Alumni Award, 2019 Class of Leadership Atlanta and Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2014.

Appleton is a member of the Grady Hospital Ambassador Force Advisory Board, creating awareness and providing vital support for the Grady Health System. Members of the Ambassador Force gather throughout the year to learn about Grady’s impact on the greater Atlanta community, to receive updates from Grady’s leading executives and physicians regarding the key issues facing the hospital, state and U.S. health care community.

Appleton has served on numerous additional boards including the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board, Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders Council, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Alliance Theatre Advisory Board, Health Connect South Advisory Board and more. He is also co-founder of Vote with Dignity, an all volunteer voter advocacy organization working to improve the voting experience through line warming and neighborhood engagement.

At the heart of Chris’s life’s work, he believes that lasting, sustainable change happens when people work across boundaries and barriers