Since 1982, Arts & Services for Disabled has provided a space for adults with intellectual & developmental disabilites a space to create, explore and share their voice. How have you been involved with us? We hope you will share your story with us as we know our community is an immense part of us!
Created by ASD1982 on Sep 19, 2011
Last updated: 08/02/12 at 03:08 PM
Tags: arts disability music therapy getty internship la county arts commission harbor regional center westside regional center adult education drama dance ucla long beach city college micro-enterprise socially responsible business etsy cafe press remo drums epic arts
Arts & Services for Disabled knows the community has been a significant part of our history over the years, we hope you will share your connection with us on our history timeline through Facebook!
www.artsandservices.org
Moving on up! After nearly 23 years at the previous site, ASD's headquarters and the ART Center relocated to a new and improved space. Students & staff alike will enjoy all of the opporunties our current location will bring to the future of programming
Love is in the Air was a live performance by The ART Center Orchestra, featuring the Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky and a showing of HOT AIR LOVE, an American silent film by TAP II. Guests enjoyed the interpretation of classic film and musical genres, as presented by students. Funds earned from this event brought ASD up to speed with technology, purchasing updated computers & software.
ArtBeat For Humanity Workshops at Remo Recreational Center started in summer of 2010. Inspired my ASD’s Art Beat for Humanity in collaboration with Remo Recreational Center. These workshops offer drum painting classes that fuse music with visual arts and are available to the larger Los Angeles community.
Workshop dates coming up: 11/19/2011 & monthly therafter
http://www.artsandservices.org/microenterprise/commerce.html
After many years on the wish list...ASD got some new wheels! Through the generous grants recived by the National Charity League and Toyota, students have the ability to particiapte in the surrounding communities and reach more audiences with their work.
"The pint-sized version of our popular adult favorite. It's preshrunk and durable - just what a playful, active tyke needs"....clever product descriptions as written by students are an added whimsy to shopping at Cafe Press.
Café Press is a website based store front that is managed by students at TAP II. All of the merchandise is designed by students and features the artwork of ASD artists. Students work together to design merchandise and product descriptions that is appealing to online shoppers.
http://www.cafepress.com/arts_services
ArtBeat Radio provides an arena in which ASD students can share their works and talents with the larger audience offered by Access Unlimited (KPFK 90.7FM) and Los Angeles Radio Reading Service (LARRS). The collaboration between these two radio programs is made possible by our partnership with Jolie Mason, Director of the Los Angeles Radio Reading Service and radio host and coproducer on Access
Unlimited. Both radio programs exist to serve and advocate for the disabled community. Artbeat Radio is generously funded by The Green Foundation
http://artbeatradio.tumblr.com/
ART Orchestra was created to give ASD students an opportunity to get “inside” classical music. By incorporating the essential elements or “ingredients” of a musical piece: melody, rhythm and movement students put them together to create a unique recipe. The Orchestra performed in front of a live audience at The Found Theatre as participants of the Long Beach Reads One Book project, featuring The Soloist, The Orchestra went on to perform in several venues throughout Long Beach
http://www.lbpl.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=152
HOT AIR LOVE, an american love story broke the silence of its genre by beautifully captivating audiences from small screenings to the WRAMTA (Western Region American Music Therapy Association) conference in 2011
http://www.wramta.org/
Beyond being a shop for family, friends and the general community to shop at for unique handmade gifts, the Go! Store is a place for students to build and develop vocational and social skills. Students who participate by working in and running the Go! Store learn key concepts to working in a small business. Students will use the micro-entreprise model in order to build organizational skills as well as to create an understanding of the purpose of the store.
www.gostore.etsy.com
Paving the way for further inclusion, ASD was integral in developing the arts curriculum for post secondary education for the Pathways program at UCLA. Pathway at UCLA Extension is a two-year certificate program for students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.
www.uclaextension.edu/pathway/r/Default.aspx
In it's young history with the Commission, ASD has offered under-graduate internships in radio. Working with ASD students, interns have developed contemporary radio dramas, rock operas, candid interviews & poetry, made availble tol isten through pod casts. Through this accessibility, the greater radio community is able to celebrate & hear the voice of ASD students.
http://www.lacountyarts.org/internship.html
ArtBeat for Humanity provides the opportunity for artists with disabilities to utilize the drum not only as an instrument of rhythmic expression, but also as a canvas to share their creative expression through artistic channels. Drum art has been a part of humanity for thousands of years in many diverse cultures around the globe. ArtBeat for Humanity is a unique collaboration and partnership project between REMO, Inc. and Arts & Services for Disabled, Inc., promoting social enterprise, entrepreneurship & inclusion. Artbeat for Humanity continues to grow since 2008
http://www.remo.com/portal/news/index.html?id=121
The Artifact Gallery is an educational classroom conducting daily music, art, drama and movement classes for currently enrolled students. The space is also used to host workshops on bi-monthly basis. These workshops are open to Arts & Services for Disabled Inc. (ASD) students including TAPII, EPI, ART and the CECA programs. Members of the local community of Gardena, Lawndale and Hawthorne are also invited to participate in the many classes that are offered throughout the year. Different workshops are available for minimal material fees contribution.
Arts & Services newest addition, The Cultural Education Center for the Arts (CECA) in Hawthorne, opened June 18, 2007. Funded in large part by a generous grant from Westside Regional Center, CECA is designed to provide community inclusion for individuals leaving the state developmental centers and beginning anew as fully participating citizens
After my first year in college, I had the incredible privilege of spending a summer working with the students and staff of ASD, where I saw the creative process in action throughout each day. I led a fabric arts class that was a lot of fun, and helped curate a show at the Long Beach Health Department called "Good For You, Bad For You". It was a great learning experience. I gained from ASD a huge sense of respect for people with disabilities that has been influential in my career goals (I'm now a registered nurse!).
ASD became a certified site for post secondary education for adults with disabilites. This model offered students an opporuntity to make a smoother transition between high school and campus life by taking classes in an enviroment where they could develop the social skills needed to more successfully integrate with peers. LBCC at ASD offered (2005-2009)two daily living skills courses, using the creative arts as a tool for particiaption.
In partnership with the National Arts & Disability network at UCLA, Arts & Services for Disabled presents this annual international art exhibition. Since 2005, CORE has exhibited locally at 2nd City Council Gallery in Long Beach, Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica & upcoming (11/2011) at the Santa Monica Hangars Galeries North.
nadc.ucla.edu
Over the last decade, ASD has provided under-graduate students an opporutnity to work hands on through Curatorial and Educational Summer Internships. From learning all aspects of conceptualizng an art exhibition to installation and PR, students have created year long exhibitions for the community to enjoy. The interns exhibition can be viewed at the Long Beach Health Department year-round.
http://www.getty.edu/foundation/funding/leaders/
Students voiced their poetry and music at CSULB's radio show from 2000-2001, airing locally and reaching the Long Beach community. Years later, since 2009, students will reach over 200,000 people nationally through the Artbeat Radio Internship on 90.7FM (KPFK)
Encouraging Personal Independence Center, (EPI) was established in 1996 in Hawthorne, CA. EPI has supported individuals with developmental disabilities to access resources and gain skills in order to enhance their quality and independence in life, by providing opportunities and a warm environment for greater success outcomes.
In the early years, The Deneff Gallery featured the work of artists attending Arts & Services an opportunity to exhibit their work while earning a commission for the sale of their work....later the Deneff Gallery expands to offer curatorial opportunities to the disabled arts community, supporting its mission of inclusion
The Accesssible Arts Workshops & Dr Mary Martz began responding to the needs of the community by making arts programming accessible to all. Today, AAW provides fine art, drama, music, and music therapy to children and adults where the arts are not available. Thanks to generous funding in part by the L.A. County Arts Commission, Long Beach Arts Council, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, The City of Long Beach and The Pacific Life Foundation, all AAW workshops are offered to schools, hospitals, group homes and juvinal detention centers at no cost.
http://www.artsandservices.org/services/workshops/
Through the establishement of the George V Deneff Gallery (& later Aritfact Forum) our community exhibition programs, national & local exhibits & performances were developed & implemented
www.artsandservices.org
Therapeutic Arts Program II in Gardena, CA was the home of the annual TAP II Games (1990-2010). The Games became an opporunity for the community to celebrate the athletic spirit of students while supporting them through this annual fundrasing event.
TAP II was designed to maximize independence while providing support for basic needs, personal care, and mobility. The arts-based curriculum allows adult students to develop further strengths in communication, explore and build on talents, meet people with similar interests, and make friends.
Community exhiitions paved the way for artists like Kyung-Ah Yoo to contribute their work to the greater arts community, through the visual and performing arts. In 2009, drama students tackled the subject of continental drift in A Myth from Antarctica
http://youtu.be/kxrMmghHlMo
Fundraising was no easy task! From Curley's Cafe in the early days to partnerships with internationally recognized REMO drums today, ASD's founding community members, (Peggy Seaman, Dee Suprenant, Judy Mellow, Vicki Marks and Sandy Sullivan) shared the wealth of fundraising knowledge.
The National Chairy League was ASD's very first, grant funder! and so much more....our relationship continues through their mission and philanthropic efforts.
Their Mission:
Our mission is to foster the mother-daughter relationship in a philanthropic organization committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences
http://www.nationalcharityleague.org/
Music Therapy Internships at ASD last 6 months. Interns have the opportunity to develop classes, write goals and objectives, and implement these classes daily under the supervision of a board certified Music Therapists. In addition, educational and community service opportunities (workshops and drum circles) are available throughout LA and Orange County areas. Interns also work on a 1:1 case study, an amazing opportunity for interns & students alike!ASD is a member of The National Affiliation of Music Therapy Association.
http://www.musictherapy.org/
Community involvement, forever present in the make-up of ASD! Both students, staff and volunteers planted the seed of engagement early on. Today, students can be seen maintaining a community garden, volunteering at the Veterans hospital and donating knit caps to new born babies
www.artsandservices.org
Arts & Services for Disabled's pioneering board members included George V Deneff, Rose Gary, Madeline Twiss, Maria Rubino and Helen Dolas as non-voting members, respectively. ASD's board member panel today includes Rick Berry, Gerry Gomez, Michelle Kelly, Jolie Mason, Barbara Riggs, Lillian Romero, Catherine Spear, Andrea Sulsona and Duff Watrous
Therapeutic Arts Program, what is now Achieving Results Together or ART Center in Long Beach, the 1st of 6 programs to come opened it's doors August 23, 1982 with 2 music therapists and 5 students in a large recreation room rented at Veterans Park in downtown Long Beach. A class curriculum with therapeutic & educational design was implemented that offered individualized goals & objectives, behavioral interventions & a creative therapeutic milieu that grew very quickly to serve more than 100 students with disabilites.
www.artsandservices.org
The primary mission of Arts & Services for Disabled is to provide life-long learning, community service and career opportunities through the creative arts for people with disabilities in an environment of warmth, encouragement and respect....this philosophy was born by the vision of two music therapists who believed art to be a tool toward developing a better quality of life for adults with developmental disabilites

