- I remember my first experience

of seeing this amazing production of art

that was different than what I had seen

and it was such a personal expression

by the person making it.

They may or may not have had language,

they may or may not been able to communicate with me,

but they're making this work.

That's really a window into their soul.

When you ask someone who's been disenfranchised

their entire life to tell me your story

it's amazing how the door opens.

(upbeat violin music)

Creative Growth Art Center is the oldest and largest

center for artists with disabilities in the world.

When we were founded, the idea of disability, then,

was so radically different than what it is now.

We didn't come out of a hospital setting

or we didn't come out of a vocational training program,

we came out of some artists getting together,

in a home in Oakland, putting paint on a table in the garage

and just saying, this is what artists do,

and this is how we can change the social fabric.

From those, kind of, humble beginnings,

we now serve 162 artists with disabilities

in our studio, every week.

It's a very big space.

Within that, you'll find almost every possible expression

of visual art.

You'll see the rug making area, the wood shop,

the ceramic studio, the fashion area,

the painting and drawing area

and everyone's working together

and everyone can see each other.

It's different than most places

and some people don't believe it.

Some people think, like, you must have doctors

and you must have all these other things

and how do you deal with the studio everyday.

It's like, no, you know, art is the common language.

And a lot of our folks don't verbalize or speak

or they speak sign language,

but art is the language that moves us forward.

- This is called the Oil Red Sea Number One.

Red is the only color I can see.

- [Tom] You look at work of an artist like Dan Miller,

ya know, he's pretty much non-verbal.

His mother tried to encourage him to speak

by telling him how to spell words when he was a boy,

every night, and he never spoke them

until he started to draw them.

- A light goes click, click, click.

- [Tom] Look at an artist like Monica Valentine,

she takes pins and she takes sequins and colored beads,

and she strings those together on the pin

and she puts them into styrofoam forms

to form these optically charged sculptures.

When you realize that Monica has prosthetic eyes

and can't see color or see anything,

it moves into this whole other range.

We want their own voice, we want it as pure

and personalized as it can be.

And 45 years later, it continues to work.

How's that building coming along, Pete?

- Slowly. - It's looking good.

The record of success that Creative Growth has

is phenomenal, it's off the charts

in terms of what an art school

or any other, sort of, enterprise

would consider to be acceptable.

We have three artists with work in the Museum of Modern Art

permanent collection in New York,

in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art collection.

And, this year, we have the first two people

with developmental disabilities,

they have work in the Venice Bienalle.

The Venice Bienalle is the most important, prestigious,

by invitation-only exhibition in the world.

Their work is sought after.

Ya know, a piece is done, and there's a waiting list.

Rosina, I haven't even said hello to you, yet, today.

- How are you? - Good.

To be able to work at a place like this

is beyond anything I had hoped for.

I get to work with phenomenally talented people,

and to see how they negotiate the day everyday,

how they get around obstacles, how they continue to say yes,

when everyone is telling them no,

that's an amazing thing.

That's a life lesson I get reminded of every single day.

(gentle music)