Alain de Botton on Art as Therapy.

"Art has a very important function in giving us hope"
"The commitment of art is to serve our souls"
"Art makes us feel proud of our community"

Alain de Botton,  is a Swiss-British writer, philosopher, and television presenter resident in the United Kingdom. His books and television programmes discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. At 23, he published Essays in Love (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997), Status Anxiety (2004) and The Architecture of Happiness (2006).

In August 2008, he was a founding member of a new educational establishment in central London called The School of Life.   (source: wikipedia )