The Enid A. Haupt Glass Garden opened in 1958 as an amenity to Rusk Institute - a place where patients, visitors and staff enjoy the soothing, natural environment of plants, water birds, and beauty as a retreat from the hospital atmosphere.

In the mid-1970s, one of the nation's first horticultural therapy programs began in the Glass Garden. Patients of all ages work with trained horticultural therapists on activities that help to rehabilitate physical and cognitive functioning as part of their occupational therapy program. These horticulture activities also help the patients to achieve a sense of personal accomplishment, productivity and self-reliance.