Community Service Award: Arts Access Program at The Matheny Medical & Educational Center

Remember putting on a blindfold at some point of your life, and trying to imagine being blind? Remember how relieved you were to take the blindfold off, and return to a world full of light and color?

At Arts Access, our world is full of individuals who live with severe disabilities-unable to walk, speak or move without assistance-but whose lives are still filled with light and color, language and movement of their own making. By giving these profoundly disabled artists a hand and a voice, Arts Access nurtures their creative spirit, without the blindfolds of their limitations.

We see the people we work with as artists, refusing to define them by their disabilities, but rather, letting them define themselves by their achievements.

For almost 60 years, The Matheny Medical and Educational Center has been opening new worlds for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Located in Peapack, NJ, Matheny provides children and young adults with residential and day programs staffed by caring professionals who focus on opportunities rather than limitations. It is also a teaching hospital, a special education school and a comprehensive medical center designed to meet the healthcare needs of persons with all types of disabilities. Matheny's main facility is home to 99 children and adults. Five group homes, located throughout Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties, provide a community residence for 30 adults.

The Arts Access Program is an alternative visual and performing arts program for individuals who have severe disabilities. The program began in 1993 with the objective that each person, regardless of their disability, would have the opportunity to express themselves through their own artistic choices. The Arts Access Program provides unrestrained opportunities for artistic self-expression by bringing together severely disabled individuals with professionals in the arts who are called facilitators.

The artist facilitators literally act as the arms and legs of the disabled individual and are trained not to add their input to the artistic process. By pairing each individual with a professional artist, we help our artists realize their dreams. Facilitators have no previous experience with people with disabilities and therefore have no preconceptions of what these artists can or cannot achieve. They become neutral partners who work with the disabled program participants, putting aside their own artistic styles and opinions for the period of time they are facilitating.

Arts Access serves some of the most disabled individuals among us, an often forgotten population. Imagine for a moment that you have lost the physical ability to create your art- your hands do not work, you cannot speak, you are confined to a wheelchair-yet your creative ability is as strong as ever. Your brain is full of ideas, activity and inspiration. You yearn to paint, to sculpt, to draw, to express your vision to the world. But it is a longing you cannot satisfy, so the interplay of shapes, forms, colors, lines, light and shadow remain locked inside of you. To overcome these obstacles, Arts Access has devised systems and methodologies to ensure the absolute accuracy of communication. These include charts that show color, texture, shapes, paint thickness, assorted tools and methods of applications-to name only a few. By using these unique communication tools and with the help of facilitators, you are once again able to do what you love best: create fine art. Arts Access provides this opportunity to those who wish to explore the arts, regardless of their disability.

To learn more, please visit www.artsaccessprogram.org or call Lyn Sanders, Director of the Arts Access Program at 908.234.0011, X440.

Eric Corbin is among the most accomplished artists in the Arts Access Program. He has produced a large body of work which has been showcased in various museums and galleries. Eric has been featured in numerous articles and several television segments. His paintings often reflect his love of nature and the theme of father and son. Eric has begun experimenting with the medium of digital art and has found a new freedom through this technology. The results have been astonishing. Eric has also been a devoted drama and

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