+ What's the mission of Creative Growth?

Creative Growth Art Center provides a supportive environment for creative expression, community, and professional artistic development to individuals with developmental disabilities.

To achieve its mission, a core group of 18 Studio Instructors facilitate classes for 140+ adult artists exploring a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, ceramics, wood working, fiber arts, printmaking, and digital arts. Ongoing programming includes several classes daily, frequent artist talks and workshops by visiting artists, and field trips to museums and landmarks. All programming is free and artists receive 50 percent of net proceeds from sales of their art. A weekly class exposes 35 young adults with disabilities, ages 15-22, to the potential of art in their lives, for a nominal fee.

Creative Growth’s Gallery promotes our artists’ work in the contemporary art world by producing several on-site exhibitions each year, collaborating with external galleries on exhibitions and artist representation, participating in art fairs, and shepherding our artists’ work into institutional exhibitions and permanent collections internationally.

+ How did Creative Growth get started?

Florence and Elias Katz, an artist and psychologist, respectively, founded Creative Growth in the garage of their East Bay home in 1974, during a time of great social progress centered in the California Bay Area. They articulated their vision clearly, from the start:

“Our philosophy is that each person has the right to the richest and fullest development of which he is capable. Only then can society reach its fullest potential. Since we believe that creativity is the highest actualization of human functioning, it is of paramount importance to provide an environment in which creativity is appreciated, stimulated, and encouraged. Creativity is a vital living force within each individual.” ⁠ ⁠ Mass deinstitutionalization via the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 1967 created a vacuum for services for people with disabilities, and a new crop of vocational and rehabilitation programs began to emerge. Creative Growth was the first to meet the need for people with disabilities to have creative expression and develop professional artistic practices.

Relocated to a rehabilitated auto repair shop in Oakland in 1978, Creative Growth is now one of the oldest and largest organizations in the world dedicated to elevating the role of artists with disabilities by providing opportunities for creative expression while building diverse audiences for their work.

+ What programs are available?

Since 1974, Creative Growth has played a significant role in increasing public interest in the artistic capabilities and achievements of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Artwork created in our Studio is exhibited directly in the Creative Growth Gallery as well as in outside galleries, museums, and private collections throughout the world. Our primary focus is to encourage and support artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the development and exhibition of their artwork.

Studio Program

The Creative Growth Studio is currently closed due to COVID-19 shelter in place orders. When the Studio is open, our program is offered 9:30am to 3:00pm, Monday through Friday. The program provides a professional art studio setting and facilitation for over 140 artists in drawing, painting, ceramics, wood, fiber arts, printmaking, and digital arts. The program is further enriched by trips to museums, galleries, and artists’ studios. Artists develop a working portfolio and many produce exhibition-quality artwork for sale in the Creative Growth Gallery and internationally.

During shelter in place, Creative Growth is providing a robust variety of alternative remote services, including Zoom art programs and artist talks, movement classes, and social gatherings, as well as delivery of customized art supply kits to artists’ homes.

Youth Art Program

The Youth Art Program serves young people ages 15–22 with developmental and concurrent disabilities. Classes are small, so that each student receives individual attention. Students experience the excitement of discovering their creative potential and the reward of having their artwork exhibited and sold in the Creative Growth Gallery. The Creative Growth Studio is currently closed due to COVID-19 shelter in place orders. When the Studio is open, the Youth Art Program takes place on Saturdays; during shelter in place, it takes place on Zoom.

For information about our programs, click here.

+ Can I visit the Studio? Gallery?

The Creative Growth Studio is currently closed due to COVID-19 shelter in place orders. When the Creative Growth Studio is open, tours are provided for art collectors, potential program participants, supporters, prospective volunteers, and other interested individuals and groups. As interest in Creative Growth has expanded, so have the number of requests for tours of our Studio and overall facility. While we make every effort to accommodate each request, please bear in mind that our time and resources to meet this growing demand are limited, and that for professional organization tour requests we may ask for a voluntary donation by selecting one of our support levels (here) to help defray the staff costs associated with providing tours. All collected fees go directly back to the Creative Growth program. Priority will be given to Creative Growth supporters. Click (here) to become a supporter. To request a tour, please fill out our tour request form.

The Gallery at Creative Growth is typically open to the public Monday–Friday, 10am–4pm, and Saturday,10am–3pm, when an exhibition is installed. We have occasional evening openings for new exhibitions. Currently, however, the Gallery is open for limited hours, by appointment only. Check our website (here) for details, including COVID-19 safety protocols, and information about our current exhibition.

+ How can people get involved with Creative Growth?

There are several ways to get involved at Creative Growth.

Gallery

Please join us for Gallery exhibitions, openings, and other special events, which are listed on our exhibitions page.

Volunteer

The Creative Growth Studio is currently closed due to COVID-19 shelter in place orders. When we are open, volunteers play a vital role in our program and quickly become active participants in the daily life of the Studio. We value the various skills and contributions volunteers bring to Creative Growth, and we will do our best to match your skills and interests with our needs. Visit our volunteer page to learn more.

Visiting Artist Program

Visiting Artist talks and workshops provide an important avenue for Creative Growth artists to learn new art forms from working artists.

Support...

Membership supports over 140 artists with disabilities at Creative Growth Art Center, ensuring each artist receives professional grade materials, exceptional artistic instruction, premium exhibition and promotion opportunities in our gallery and abroad, partnerships with renowned Visiting Artists, and a secure, creative home of peers. Visit our membership page to learn more.

+ Who are your artists?

The Creative Growth community is comprised of approximately 140 adult artists from around the Bay Area. We serve adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities; many also have concurrent physical disabilities. Their ages range from 18 to 85; 37% are under 40, while 28% are over 60. Thirty artists have been practicing at Creative Growth for more than 20 years. Creative Growth’s artists reflect the diversity of the Bay Area: 52% self-identify as white, 19% as Black, 13% as Latino, 10% as Asian, 4% as Filipino, and 2% as Middle Eastern. Primary languages spoken in the Studio include English, Spanish, American Sign Language, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Arabic, and Dari.

+ Who can become an artist at Creative Growth?

Creative Growth serves adult and youth artists with intellectual/developmental and concurrent disabilities who share an interest in exploring creativity. We primarily serve adults who are eligible for Regional Center services and are referred to us by their case managers. For those who are not Regional Center eligible, admission is determined on a case-by-case basis. We require no previous art experience, only a sincere desire to engage in and enjoy the art-making process. Visit our enroll page to learn more.

+ What is the staff-to-artist ratio?

Creative Growth maintains a ratio of 1 staff artist to 9 client artists in the Studio. Artists are also supported in the Studio and beyond by three client care/services staff members, three Gallery staff, and an administrative team.

+ Who can work in the Creative Growth Studio?

Studio instructors are themselves working artists; many started at Creative Growth as volunteers. The founders of the organization, Florence Ludins-Katz and Elias Katz, felt that interaction with the local artist community would benefit artists with disabilities by providing a deeper connection with the contemporary art world and would create a model art center.

+ Do you need special training to work or volunteer at Creative Growth?

In general, Creative Growth Studio staff are trained as artists. All staff and critical volunteers are required to have first aid and CPR certification and must be screened by the Department of Justice.

+ What is the Creative Growth art philosophy?

Creative Growth strives to foster the development of each artist’s individual voice and to not overly direct or influence artwork. There is a careful collaboration between the artist and staff to support and encourage individual creative expression.

+ Which artists get their work shown in the Gallery?

The Gallery is a dedicated exhibition space for Creative Growth artists. In the course of a year, the Gallery shows five to seven curated exhibitions that highlight the work of artists enrolled in the Creative Growth program.

+ Do artists get paid?

All artists at Creative Growth get paid for their work, whether they sell art in the Gallery or not. As is the norm in the professional art world, the sale of artwork is shared 50-50 between the artist and Creative Growth. Creative Growth dedicates its share of art sales to support the Studio and Gallery programs and provide museum-quality art supplies, which are given free of charge to the artists.

+ How do you get the artists’ work into museums and national/international galleries?

Creative Growth is proud to have three artists, the only artists with intellectual/developmental disabilities, in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. As a professional art center, Creative Growth advocates for the appreciation and understanding of our artists’ work with collectors, galleries, and institutions.

+ How is Creative Growth funded?

Approximately 30% of our funding comes from fees provided by the California Regional Center system, governed by the Department of Developmental Services. Another 40% comes from art sales. The remainder is comprised of foundation and government grants, individual and corporate contributions, and fundraising events, such as our annual fashion show, Beyond Trend.

+ How are donations used?

Donations from individuals and foundations comprise approximately 30% of our income as we strive toward sustainability. Creative Growth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Funds are used to help provide general operating support, pay staff, purchase art supplies, and pay water and electric bills. For more information about making a donation, or information about leaving a legacy gift to Creative Growth, please contact Director of Development Sarah Kermensky at development@creativegrowth.org.

+ What is the structure of Creative Growth?

Creative Growth is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) entity incorporated in the state of California, governed by a volunteer board of directors. The organization is managed by Executive Director Elizabeth Brodersen, who has overall responsibility for leading strategic planning and execution, organizational and fiscal management, and ensuring Creative Growth’s long-term sustainability and impact. Director of External Relations Tom di Maria focuses on global partnerships and exhibitions and leadership in the field of arts and disabilities.

+ How many staff members do you have at Creative Growth?

Currently, Creative Growth has 31 full- and part-time employees. Eighteen are staff artists in the Studio, three provide client care and services, three manage the Gallery, and the rest provide general management and administrative services, such as fundraising, communications, and accounting.