Creativity Explored
San Francisco, CaliforniaCreativity Explored is a studio and gallery in San Francisco's Mission District where more than 130 artists with developmental disabilities draw, paint, sculpt, and build with an exuberance and joy that stops you in your tracks. The nonprofit was founded in 1983 by Florence and Elias Katz — an artist and a psychologist — in response to the nationwide de-institutionalization of people with disabilities. It holds a steadfast truth at its heart: creative expression is a human right.
When I began working with Creativity Explored in 2000, it was a treasured neighborhood institution, packed with remarkable art and beloved by everyone who found it. But its public presence didn’t reflect or support the vitality within its walls. CE’s artists deserved a wider audience and the opportunity to build careers from their extraordinary work — and the growing nonprofit needed infrastructure, community, and partnerships to sustain its mission over the long term.
Over nearly a decade, I built the public presence of Creativity Explored. A vibrant new brand used the artwork and artists to convey CE’s big heart and creative energy. A custom-built website, guided by in-depth user research and refined over multiple versions, offered an experience similar to visiting the studio and gallery itself: profiles and video interviews to get to know the artists and their work; online galleries to experience the latest exhibitions; studio blogs and social media to keep up with day-to-day happenings; event calendars to learn about in-person gatherings; and a web store to purchase an ever-changing selection of artwork and merchandise.
CE’s web presence grew into a backbone of support for the organization, enabling people to be active members of the community whether they lived down the street or on the other side of the world. Over time, CE’s neighborhood following blossomed into a devoted international community of art lovers, collectors, patrons, and partners.
As CE became more widely known, I built the foundation of its licensing and art services programs, including an online library of licensable artwork and galleries showing how the work had been used in real products and spaces. CE has since made over 30,000 original artworks available and has partnered with CB2, Pottery Barn, COMME des GARÇONS, REAL Skateboards, Google, Whole Foods, David Baker Architects, Mercy Housing, and others. These programs have become central to CE’s long-term sustainability.
I created the layout and design of Fears of Your Life, a hardcover book by studio artist Michael Bernard Loggins, giving form to his hand-drawn text and illustrations. The book was featured on NPR's This American Life, excerpted in Harper's Magazine and The Oprah Magazine, and adapted for the stage at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Creativity Explored has facilitated the careers of hundreds of artists over four decades. CE artists have earned more than $2.2 million from their art, receiving 50% of proceeds from each sale and 40% of licensing royalties. Their work has been exhibited in over 14 countries and acquired for the permanent collections of SFMOMA and the Oakland Museum of California — whose acquisition of 25 CE works was the largest from a single exhibition in the museum’s history. CE has repeatedly been voted Best Nonprofit and Best Art Gallery in San Francisco. What began as a beloved neighborhood art studio is now an internationally recognized champion of creative expression and disability rights — living proof that art changes lives.