Dr. Barbara Turner began her study of Jungian sandplay therapy with the founder of the method, Dora M. Kalff, in Switzerland in 1988. She has done extensive research into the theory and healing process of sandplay, and focused her doctoral studies on the sandplay method. She is the founder of the Association for Sandplay Therapy (AST).

She is the author of The Handbook of Sandplay Therapy, considered by many to be the authoritative text on Jungian sandplay, now translated into Korean, Chinese, Russian, and Italian. She has also co-authored Sandplay and Storytelling and The Teachings of Dora Kalff. She teaches sandplay therapy to mental health clinicians internationally.