Eden Alternative's headquarters isn't located in an actual garden. But almost. It's on a lush farm in the rolling hills of upstate New York, 60 miles southeast of Syracuse. On 220 acres that had been abandoned for 50 years, Bill and Jude Thomas brought Summer Hill Farm to life, building a house, barn, retreat center, and 14-room lodge. It's here that you fully appreciate how much of a Renaissance man Thomas is. In the fields behind his house, he uses draft horses to pull the machinery that cuts and rakes the hay. Come wintertime, he takes the family on a horse-drawn-carriage ride into the snowy woods to tap maple sap in order to produce Summer Hill Syrup.

In a very real sense, Summer Hill is the Thomases' personal Eden, a home with dogs and children and individuals who need long-term medical care. Hannah and Haleigh Thomas, 5 and 7, suffer from a rare neurological disorder that prevents them from being able to see, speak, and walk. During a break in the Eden training, Jude checks on them and their nurse and dotes on the dark-haired girls in the double stroller. "When people ask if the Eden program can make a difference in someone who's in a nursing home, I tell them that it can, because I see how Hannah and Haleigh respond to loving care," says Jude. "I honestly believe they're alive because of Eden."

When her husband isn't at Summer Hill, he's spreading the word to nursing-home administrators, regulators, insurance companies, policy makers, and industry associations. He gives about 40 talks a year. Thomas is an optimist -- "It can be different," his business card says -- but he's also a realist. He knows that he can't fix the country's nursing homes on his own. He relies on Eden associates to promote the program, share success stories, and conduct training sessions in their communities.

Part of changing an industry is about choosing wisely where to focus your energy. In long-term care, as in any field, the stalwarts vastly outnumber the progressives. In general, Thomas says, the progressives have ideas and enthusiasm but lack real authority or management skills, and the stalwarts have authority and experience but resist changes in the status quo. Thomas doesn't turn down invitations to address the latter, but he doesn't court them either. "The reason I'm not racing to Edenize 17,000 nursing homes across the country is because I know that I'll never win over the stalwarts," he says. "I'm focusing on the progressives, because they're interested in changing things."

Ultimately, Eden Alternative is a repair for a broken industry. The replacement, says Thomas, is his Greenhouse Project. It involves houses that are built for small groups of elders and that have a dedicated staff. They are actual homes, instead of an institution that calls itself a home. St. Luke's Home, where Thomas used to be the medical director, expects to break ground on the first greenhouses within the next couple of years. After that, he says, the next logical stage is an Eden Village, where the greenhouses and the elders are part of a larger community.

But why stop there? he wonders. Why not apply these principles to other institutions, such as schools and prisons? Thomas jokes about starting a group called "Institutions Anonymous." Maybe he's only half joking. "Don't get me started," he says.

Chuck Salter (csalter@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer based in Baltimore. Learn more about Eden Alternative on the Web (www.edenalt.com), or contact Bill Thomas by email (thomaswh@edenalt.com).

To find out more about Learning From Hannah: Secrets for a Life Worth Living, go to http://www.vandb.com/hannah.html

Sidebar: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Through Eden Alternative, Bill Thomas is making a difference in long-term care for the elderly. He's turning institutions into places where residents actually enjoy living. Here's how he's fixing things.

Have a good story to tell. Stories help people understand your ideas. Through your passion, stories inspire others to get on board and make your vision a reality. "You need a mythic, heroic story that people will respond to," Thomas says. "Ours is about creating gardens for our elders where they can thrive. That's something that people want for their mothers and fathers."

Watch your language. Eden has a vocabulary all its own, most of which grew (pun intended) out of its defining metaphor of cultivating gardens. Eden practitioners know what they mean by "warming the soil" and "experiencing a frost." It may sound goofy, but it's a way of changing the conversation within an organization.

Don't mistake tokens for real change. The most visible component of Eden is the animals that reside in nursing homes. But "fur and feathers," says Thomas, aren't a shortcut to transformation. Unless you change the culture and philosophy, the facility won't be different. It will still be an institution -- but with pets. Big deal.