“Once Upon Our Time” is a mobile mural created by Allison and Sasha for and with the support of Heartland Human Care Services’ International Refugee Center. The mural depicts the power of storytelling through multicultural and mythological characters and landscapes. Through these painted scenes viewers are presented diverse methods of teaching, experiences of movement and change, and an overall celebration of the imagination. The people, animals, objects, and landscapes come from both real and imagined sources reminding viewers that they are simultaneously the products and the creators of their own realities. This mural reflects the cultural duality experienced by many refugee, asylee, and immigrant children and depicts the equal importance of formal and informal education.

Related curriculum and educational programming (including puppets) have also been incorporated to help explore characters and events depicted in the mural.

The mural was completed in January 2007.