A Training Ground for Untrained Artists

These are really amazing works that rival many of the stuff seen in modern art galleries.

Thank you for sharing this story. As both an autism author of five books who speaks around the country on preparing for transition to adulthood, and as a parent of a gifted intuitive artist who is severely impacted by autism and has synesthesia, it is heartening to read about Creative Growth.
I am heartened to hear about their financial successes as well - this is the crux of being developmentally disabled - trying to find a way make money when they don't fit into society's regular employment model. It gives me hope for my own son as well as for those I help and advise.
My son Jeremy, 27, communicates by typing. One morning he began to dictate dreams he was having - he was painting people's emotions as color (their portraits) in his dreams. I encouraged him to paint in real life what he was dreaming. So he did. He loves painting. People commission to ‘read’ and paint their colors - his website is http://www.jeremysvision.com/. He has even painted President Obama's aura: http://www.jeremysvision.com/portfolio/our-president-obama/
I suspect that many like Jeremy who have sensory processing challenges see and feel things we don't, and when that is translated into art it can be truly amazing to see. Thanks to Creative Growth and other places, people not usually given a chance are discovering their creative expression.

Modeled on Creative Growth is NYC's Pure Vision Arts. It's the only dedicated studio art space for autistic and developmentally disabled adults in New York City. I was stunned by the work of these artists. http://www.purevisionarts.org Pure Vision artists have an exhibit up called "Beautiful Minds" at The Rockland County Arts Center through the third week on January. http://rocklandartcenter.org/exhibitions/

Super inspiring. Thank you. I hope to visit the next time I'm in the Bay Area. As much as I understand the reasoning behind not highlighting the artists' biographies and disabilities, it is also true that each individual's life experience shapes him/her in unique and remarkable ways. Any artist is shaped by his/her life path and circumstances. For me, it enriches the experience of the art to know something about the artist's history--whatever that history is, be it the loss of sight, or surviving a terrible accident like Frida Kahlo. They are indelibly connected.

A friend introduced me to Creative Growth with the gift of their coffee table art book, "One is Adam, One is Superman".

Terms I use to describe my fifth grade son include atypical, differently-abled and having special needs not because the words are PC but because they describe him. There is no magic the work of these people. They are simply talented humans given opportunities and recognition through the open-eyes of Creative Growth. I'm incredibly grateful my kid is growing up in a world better able to see the humanity in all people.

This sounds correct to me. The reason is the staff's refusal to direct the artists, and the refusal to elaborate on their biographies. The artists know that they are being supported, and their own inclinations lead to productions which other people may like.

I would not put any stock in their originality. The only issue for the collector is: does this piece add to my own joy, knowledge, etc.

It is in their collections that the "value" of this body of work is revealed. You could write books about the collections. The artists themselves can only be revealed at second hand, through collectors' evaluation. This is how you know that the work is worth $8 or $8,000.

My guess is that this "training ground" would be quite replicable as long as you maintained the rigorous structure of the program. I would call it a sheltered workshop, though. Artists who wanted to go public or out on their own would be given the blessing of the program and transitioned out.

A Training Ground for Untrained Artists is so full, so rich, so detailed, so important, so beautiful and so lengthy. I feel as though I am in wonderland reading it. It is so well written. Thank you for all involved in spotlighting this wonderful organization with the many brilliant and gifted artists they represent, and whose works of art are going mainstream in such a big and wonderful way. And, yes, money does change everything, especially for artists who often spend their entire lives working out of dedication and on will power alone it seems, without reward. Many congratulations to the artists who are receiving this exciting attention and for their work showcased now for the world to see. I am grateful to have read this fine article, it has enriched my life. Thank you.

Marvelous. It truly captures what it feels like to make stuff. The article's real accomplishment is to show what a disabled and non-disabled maker have in common. This is clearly an amazing "school."

Most interesting to me is that any of these works of art could have been produced by a 'trained artist', a "developmentally able adult artist".

Does that tell us that art comes from a place inside we don't comprehend ot that today anything can be art???

PS. Facebook buying 35 pieces of art for $8,000 is about $228 each. Cheap prints cost more than that so Facebook ripped the man off!