NIAD Art Center

NIAD Art Center (Nurturing Independence through Artistic Development) is a 501(c)(3) organization for artists with developmental and physical disabilities, founded in 1982 and based in Richmond, Contra Costa County, California. The organization provides studios, supplies, and gallery space.

Organization
NIAD stands for Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development. NIAD Art Center has a 4,000 sq. ft. art studio in Richmond, California. The organization works with 70 artists every week; COVID protocols limit the number of artists working on-site to 20, but there is no capacity limit to the number of artists served in NIAD's Virtual Studios. Both studios are open five days per week. Some of the artists have physical disabilities; while others have developmental disabilities, and others have both. The artists enrolled at NIAD work with facilitators, who instruct them in multiple mediums: painting, fiber, ceramics, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, performance, sound recording, and digital media.

In addition to the studio space for artists, NIAD Art Center has an exhibition space where they present programming featuring the artists attending the center.

NIAD Art Center has a budget of around $600,000, as of 2012, a third of which is raised through donations and sales.

Artists associated
• Heather Edgar

• Luis Estrada

• Karen May

• Billy White

• Marlon Mullen

• Saul Alegria

• Mireya Betances

• Lisa Blevens

• Vanessa Bravo

• Eddie Braught

• Jeremy Burleson

• Angela Campbell

• Miguel Chacon

• Deatra Colbert

• Heather Copus

• Evelyn Davis

• Arista Dawson

• Julio Del Rio

• Carlos Fernandez

• Sylvia Fragoso

• Jon Fukui

• Felicia Griffin

• Raven Harper

• Shana Harper

• Peter Harris

• James Heartsill

• Shirley How

• Julie MacDonald

• Jean McElvane

• Ann Meade

• Jason Powell-Smith

• Shantae Robinson

• Joseph Rux

• Alice Sampson

• Danny Thach

• Jeffrey Thurston

• Christian Vassell

• Susan Wise

Exhibitions

 * The Genre Leaps (2018) – organized by Margaret Tedesco
 * Virgins Virgining (2017) – organized by Micah Wood
 * Avatar (2012) – curated by Justine Frischmann