Highlighting a wide selection of ceramic sculptures from Creativity Explored's archive, Main Characters brings together a diverse cast of protagonists with intertwined storylines. By placing these unique characters together, new narratives surface with each new context; acting out layered stories within the artist's imagination, their lived experiences, and the larger history of our organization.

A group exhibition of Creativity Explored artists including Andrew Bixler, Gerald Wiggins, Andrew Wong, Nubia Ortega, and many more.

Recognizing the indelible contributions of artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities working in the visual arts, this exhibition challenges conventional narratives and broadens our understanding of creativity, innovation, and expression. Since Creative Growth’s opening in 1974 and the subsequent launch of NIAD in 1982 and Creativity Explored in 1983, these institutions have been at the forefront of creating visibility for artists with disabilities in the Bay Area. We are honored to present 65 artists—with practices at these organizations—in a comprehensive survey that includes media from ceramics and textiles to figurative and abstract painting and drawing. 

Visit us at this year’s San Francisco Art Fair, Booth C19!

This show is all about comfort text: resilience in everyday words, writing and reading. Expression can also be wordless, the use of line and color as new vocabulary, pushing a thought out onto a surface, making marks and continuously trying to communicate with the world. 

We tell stories to sustain ourselves and find each other. These messages embedded in art become an emotional telegram– a signal flare with a flame of memory trailing behind it. Feeling Language is about books, lists, slogans, language, gesture, touch and the trust given in sharing.