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About
The National Institute of Art & Disabilities (NIAD) is an innovative visual arts center assisting adults with developmental and other physical disabilities. Located just 6 miles north of Berkeley in Richmond, California, NIAD serves up to 65 adults from Contra Costa and Alameda County each day. Adults working at NIAD come from diverse cultural, ethnic and [...]
Donate
NIAD Art Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and is supported in part by local and national foundations, businesses and individual donors. Please consider donating money, goods or services. Online donations can be made by clicking the Network for Good icon in the right hand margin. For any other donations please call NIAD at (510) 620-0290. [...]
Program
NIAD provides a visual arts studio program for adults with developmental and other disabilities. Through printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, fiber arts, performance art, painting, drawing, and digital-media art, our artists explore the creative process. NIAD is a full day program, with a 1:8 instructor to client ratio for adults 20-90+ who wish to attend 2-5 days [...]
551 23rd Street
Tel: (510) 620-0290
Blog
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Artist Spotlight on Arstanda “Billy” White
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Visionary Landscapes Now On Display
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NIAD Artists Learn the Art of Cartonería
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Why Get A Real Tree When You Can Make Your Own?
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NIAD Art on Display at Alley Cat Books
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Now’s Your Chance to be a Big Bad Wolf
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Artist Spotlight on Arstanda “Billy” White
If you’ve ever happened to visit our studio while the artists are working, there’s a good chance you’ve met Arstanda White, better known as “Billy.” In fact, he may have even drawn your portrait on request and let you walk away with the memory. Billy has been working at NIAD since 1994 and his personality [...]
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Visionary Landscapes Now On Display
A new year brings a new exhibition to our gallery. Visionary Landscapes highlights work by artists in our studio who transform our perceptions of the natural world. You’ll find dreamy vistas, tumultuous storms and monsters parading across the horizon. Participating artists include Lois Ann Barnett, Ray Brown, Julio Del Rio, Heather Edgar, Luis Estrada and Audrey Pickering.
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NIAD Artists Learn the Art of Cartonería
The sound of splitting bamboo filled our garden today as Ruben Guzmán, one of NIAD’s new teachers, conducted a demonstration. The artists recently switched groups in the studio and Guzmán started teaching them how to produce Cartonería (Mexican Paper Sculpture). Today the artists were splitting bamboo that will become the armature of their work. Thin [...]
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Why Get A Real Tree When You Can Make Your Own?
Every year we’ve hoisted a real tree in celebration of the holidays. The staff string some lights and the artists make ornaments. It’s a fun tradition that brings everyone together during the season. This year we took a slightly different approach. For several months a less then successful sculpture was sitting next to our studio [...]
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NIAD Art on Display at Alley Cat Books
A few months ago a member of our studio staff, Veronica De Jesus, was invited to curate the first art exhibition at the newly opened Alley Cat Books in San Francisco’s Mission District. The resulting group show is called People Are a Light to Love, and work by several NIAD artists is on display, including [...]
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Now’s Your Chance to be a Big Bad Wolf
We don’t produce t-shirts very often, but occasionally a donor or friend of NIAD will step in to help make it happen. That was the case when Brian Wilson approached us a few months ago. He encouraged us to dig through our archive and find a piece of art that would stand out and people [...]