Raja is a resident of the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities. He is also an artist.
Unlike many artists, Raja requires the assistance of other artists to complete his work. His movement is very limited and he can neither hold a paintbrush nor manipulate clay. Because he does not speak, he cannot easily communicate his artistic visions to others.
Hattie Larlham Creative Arts provides artists like Raja with the communication tools to express themselves through painting, sculpture or photography. Professional artists, called trackers in the Creative Arts Studio, learn the subtle ways each artist with disabilities communicates. Using a detailed and exhaustive series of yes-and-no-questions, trackers painstakingly recreate the artist’s vision on canvas, film or in clay.
The video below shows Raja’s visit to the University of Akron, where one of his pieces of art, a ceramic bowl, was on display to the public.
You can support Hattie Larlham’s mission to provide comfort, joy and achievement to children and adults with developmental disabilities with an online donation. You can also sponsor an artist in the Creative Arts program like Raja. Learn more about the Creative Arts program at Hattie Larlham. For more information about the program, see the feature article that ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
For more information about donating to Hattie Larlham, contact Rosanne Drake, annual fund director, at (330) 274-2272, ext. 3878, or rosanne.drake@hattielarlham.org.
