We established a new comic art festival in Huntington Beach last weekend and wanted to create an accessible, fun, high quality element aimed at encouraging young people to be creative and develop a interest in and passion for drawing and cartooning. We partnered with the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity having never worked with them before. The whole experience of working with them, both in the organising phase and at the weekend itself, was one of the best I have ever experienced in terms of partnerships. They created a wholly accessible and innovative zone where kids and their families could come and play and create art giving them confidence and creating a thirst for more. I spoke to some of those who took part and they loved it. The Center was generous and enthusiastic and just wish I could bring them to the UK where I also run a festival. The future of our artform , if not civilisation !, is education and I applaud the Center for all it is doing and hope we can work together again in the future.
Julie Tait, Co-Director NCSFest (www.ncsfest.com)
Ohmigosh, Autism Resource Mom, Inc. (ARM) loves Chuck Jones Center for Creativity!
Our organization provides support, guidance and hope to individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their families. Quarterly, the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity hosts Art Workshops for our members -- something that has grown to be one of our more popular program offerings.
For ARM, the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is tools, not rules. There are no rules on how to be creative. In their daily lives, our kids are given so many rules. But at CJCC, instead they're given tools, the tools with which they can unleash the creative brilliance that's inside of each one of them.
Also, the workshops give us many "goosebump" moments -- like at our most recent event when one young man was creating a mandala design. His mom was dumbstruck because she had never seen him sit still and focus on anything for more than 5 minutes. He worked on his art project for an hour! And it was a masterpiece.
The art educators from CJCC are wonderful. They accept our kids for who they are, and don't try and put a lot of expectations on them, which frees our kids to simply be creative and have fun. We can't wait for our next workshop with the talented folks at Chuck Jones!
Six of us joined the CJ Center for paint your pet night in April. We had so much fun with the staff and other painters, many were left thirsty for more! What was even more touching to me personally, the center raffled off a painting/picture and donated the proceeds to The Priceless Pets Rescue. Not only did they give an awesome experience to me and my girlfriends, they also generously gave to another non profit who helps place animals in forever homes. I highly recommend the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and if you're like me with little to no artistic ability, they will help you overcome! Thank you Denise and Maddie :-)
The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders has partnered with Chuck Jones Center for Creativity to help provide opportunities for children and adolescents with Autism and other disorders to tap into their creative sides. Working with Chuck Jones Center for Creativity has been an incredibly rewarding experience! Their instructors are very welcoming, understanding, and very helpful throughout the workshops. Their program is very unique; they not only teach art, but create opportunities for our clients to practice a variety of skills, including problem-solving, imitation, and flexibility. They are very sensitive to our clients, and go out of their way to meet our clients’ needs. For instance, if one of our clients is having a hard time with perfection, the instructors are very supportive and work with them with zero judgment. We see so much passion and patience in these instructors – a wonderful combination! All of our families who have attended the Chuck Jones' Workshops are thrilled that we are in collaboration with them and are able to offer this opportunity at our Center. And we couldn’t agree more!
The Chuck Jones Center and our non-profit center (Save Our Youth a.k.a. "SOY") are collaborative partners and provide art classes to 7-12 graders in the NMUSD. Their classes are great! They modify their curriculum to fit the needs of our teens and are always so flexible when it comes to what the kids want to learn more of. All the instructors we've had are amazing and friendly people. They make every class very fun for all students and the kids always want the class to never end. The kids have really enjoyed improving their skills and confidence in the arts! We are currently hosting a cartooning and animation class and the teens are super excited about it and can't wait to dive into a world of new experiences. I highly recommend the Chuck Jones Center For Creativity for anyone looking for a fun and creative experience for their kids.
We have had such fun participating in the workshops...no, PLAYSHOPS...each one is unique and stimulating...and even though I may be biased, I think everyone in my groups seem to have been inspired and excited to discover their own, special abilities to express themselves...
This creativity center helps children, people with disabilities and adults flex their creative muscles - necessary for brain development. I have donated a painting to their Red Dot auction for four years and it’s the highlight of my year. I grew up on Chuck’s art. I took inspiration from one of Chuck’s beloved Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote and brought them into modern days via selfies and photo bombs.
Our experience has always been very positive. The staff are professional and courteous. They provide great service and are wonderful contributors to the community.
As a Geriatric Case Manager who has had a long history of working with individuals with dementia and Alzheimer's since the 1970s, I cannot overemphasize the importance of seniors actively working on activities that will prevent (or even reverse) cognitive decline. The classes that Denise Dion-Scoyni and her staff members held on May 17th at Hoag and the Thursday classes at Oasis Senior Center in June were exceptional! She had a great balance & variety of individual and group activities that inspired creative expression, team working, strategization of solutions ("Wylie Coyote" food seeking venture), memory retention and recall, prefrontal executive functions, visual stimulation, and social interaction. This type of activity can certainly play an instrumental role in preventing and reversing the cycle of cognitive decline -especially when the individual combines this type of ongoing activity with healthy nutrition, physical exercise, and positive attitude & working with decreasing or minimizing or eliminating anxiety and stress from one's life. Even though, I realized that Denise had recently gone through a loss, she stayed focused and continued to empower each individual in the class and put her "heart and soul" into the activities!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Gail Kawanami
E-mail: seniortransitions.lifeworks@gmail.com
PH: (714) 654-6636
