Walking through the art center is like entering a burst of the rainbow because of all the colorful artwork proudly hung all over the walls. The artists are quietly focusing on their art pieces, staring with curiosity, or waving hello at visitors. When observers look at what the artists are working on, they get a peek into what’s in the artists’ hearts and souls.

Nestled in the streets of the Mission District, Creativity Explored is an art center that’s an explosion of color and wonder. The artists are mainly adults with developmental disabilities, such as autism, Down syndrome, mental illness, emotional disturbances, or physical disabilities.

The art center is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this year, and continues to serve as a positive environment promoting expression through creativity. The center started off with only four artists, but now has 125 part and full-time artists at its two San Francisco locations. Their art centers are on such high demand that they have to put people on a waiting list. The center is funded mostly by the Golden Gate Regional Center, an organization that finds rewarding opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to contribute to their communities, but it also receives funds from grants, contributions, fundraising events, and original art sales.

The center has accomplished much in their twenty-five years. They opened the gallery portion of the art center in 2001, and since then the Bay Area has responded with open arms. They’ve won five Best Art Gallery awards from local publications—three times from the Bay Guardian and twice from SF Weekly.
There are a variety of paintings, ranging from variations on Frida Kahlo to nature landscapes, as well as art mediums from ceramics and printmaking to sculpture and fabric everywhere you turn, each piece representing an artist’s personality and unique style.

Most of the art pieces are sold for under fifty dollars, but occasionally prices can reach up to the hundreds. They’ve been able to make about $135,000 in sales annually, making it possible for the artists to make a career off of their artwork. When art purchases are made, the proceeds are shared equally between the artist and Creativity Explored, which is used for a small portion of the center’s operating budget.

Amy Taub, the executive director of Creativity Explored, has been working there for ten years. She has her BA in art, and has worked with people with developmental disabilities since 1980.

“We’ve gotten beyond the stigma that all art by people with developmental disabilities looks like children’s art. We’ve jumped that hurdle, and now we’re integrating into the mainstream art world,” Taub says.
One of their biggest accomplishments is developing a reputation for being a place where people can get quality art, and building a supportive community of outside artists to help with the center by working there, serving as guest artists, or simply hanging out for inspiration.

The studio artists reside in different parts of the Bay Area, but come from all over the world, such as South Africa, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, and Switzerland. They range from their early twenties to their eighties, and are mostly referred to the art center through the Golden Gate Regional Center.

About a third of the artists don’t speak, so art is their way of communicating what’s inside of them and who they are. Taub explains that art becomes their way to start a dialogue with the world.

Taub describes one of the male artists who has autism and whose drawings are very small. His sister thinks it’s his way of getting up close and personal with the rest of the world because he doesn’t engage with people in spoken conversation.

David Fellom is a San Francisco native, born in 1955, and has been an artist at the center since 2007. He’s a soft-spoken but friendly man and says what he enjoys most about the center is working with his instructors. He says that the last work of art he drew was of a bird.

“I keep saying I can’t do it, and they say ‘Don’t say that you can’t do it,’” Fellom says.

Peter Cordova, another artist at the center, was born in the Philippines in 1966 and has been at the center since 1996. For inspiration for his art, he looks on the internet at photos from National Geographic, Animal Planet, and other nature related resources. He stresses the point that he doesn’t do art for the money, but rather to be appreciated by the community.

When asked about his favorite thing about the art center, Cordova says, “The truth is, I just want to be a part of it.”

Cordova takes an old painting he did out of a closet, and reveals a jungle of wild animals and trees. It’s a mixture of vibrant greens, oranges and browns that make the viewer think he was actually in the jungle painting that picture. The art reveals to the viewer a piece of who he is.

There are fifteen professional art instructors that facilitate the studio artists’ creative process. Just like the artists, they are from different parts of the world. The instructors are all professional working artists themselves, who’ve exhibited their art nationally and/or internationally, and many have degrees in art.

The instructors work with the artists on an individual level to develop the skills that fit them. They don’t forcefully teach them any different art techniques, like composition or color mixing, but say that those skills are gained gradually through time and experience. The artists are also free to pick which medium of art they want to work with.

Ester Hernandez, a visual arts instructor at the center for twenty-three years, explains that the art center is a fun place to work, and feels like she gets back as much as she gives.

“Teasingly, we’ve always said we’re either cheerleaders or referees, except we don’t have the outfits,” Hernandez says of her role as an instructor.

Hernandez says when she does her own work, she has the tendency to be overly concerned about the end product or what’s going to happen to it later. It’s refreshing for her to see the center’s artists do art for the sheer joy of doing it, reminding her to remember the enjoyment of the process of doing art and not just the end result.

Horace Washington, a ceramics instructor who’s been with Creativity Explored since it started, says it’s a lot of fun to be around the artists’ excitement, but there are also challenging moments when artists encounter problems that are too difficult for them to solve on their own.

“The good thing about art is that it’s pretty open. A person can go many directions with art as opposed to be forced to spell and write,” Washington says.

The art center is excited about offering new classes open to the public starting in spring 2009, where people can come in and do art side by side with artists with developmental disabilities. Taub hopes that the participants will let go of their preconceived notions of what good art should look like so they can learn from the artists to enjoy the process of doing art, instead of worrying about the end product.

Creativity Explored is always expanding their supportive community of artists. They’re continually finding ways to invite people to step inside their secret slice of the rainbow and explore their creativity, with the help and respect of their inspirational group of artists.