meet christopher
Teen with a Passion for Creativity
CSMA and Christopher S. have a long history. We first met Christopher when he was a student in CSMA’s in-school music and art programs at Bubb Elementary School. Since then, this special needs student has enjoyed summer camps, taken art classes, and experienced nearly every facet of what CSMA offers for young people with a passion to express themselves creatively.
As a special needs student, Christopher was able to express himself in new ways through his Arts in Action classes at Bubb. Taught by professional educators since 1981, CSMA’s Arts in Action and Music in Action programs stimulate critical thinking, curiosity, and interpersonal as well as cultural empathy – qualities developed in unique ways through creative expression. Our weekly in-school classes are multi-cultural and coordinate with classroom curriculum, so they are an integral, enriching part of each child’s complete education. By offering these classes, Bubb and other schools demonstrate their recognition that the arts are integral for overall life success, and should be provided to all children regardless of social, economic or developmental challenges.
For Christopher, his involvement in Arts in Action opened the door to much, much more. In fact, as his mother, Arlene reports, “Christopher became so enthusiastic about his weekly art lessons and what he was learning at school that he began to create art 365 days a year.” This encouraged the family to investigate additional activities for Christopher at CSMA at Finn Center.
After that, Christopher’s creative passion rapidly expanded to photography, dance, drawing and ceramics. He also began to experiment with felt sculpture, charcoal drawing, tinfoil sculpture and 3-dimensional building, becoming quite a well-rounded young artist! The family is thrilled that CSMA has helped Christopher to express his creativity, develop the artistic side of his personality, integrate into a mainstream environment, and grow intellectually as well as socially.
Both on our campus at Finn Center and in close to 30 public and private schools throughout Silicon Valley, CSMA is committed to bringing arts education to Christopher and the thousands of other students that we serve every year.
Arts4all means that every child deserves the joys and benefits of an arts education!