Some people post angry rants to the neighborhood listserv after a break-in. Others quietly accept the losses. BloomBars, the Columbia Heights arts non-profit, went a different route.

BloomBars founder and chief executive gardener John Chambers posted a video remixing the surveillance footage of a recent overnight robbery with music and written commentary. After the intruder is seen taking money from their donation boxes and “curse jar,” it pans to images of a new piece of art that he fashioned out of the broken glass and the rock that came through the window. “It was cathartic and healing,” he writes. “The lesson: beauty can come from broken glass and a little forgiveness.”