By Catherine Fisher

Brandon, 27,  who lives in Daphne, Alabama, suffers from multiple learning disorders, low speech ability, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder after his family lost their home in a fire. Last year, Brandon’s mother contacted artist Nancy Raia, who lives in nearby Fairhope, to see if she could possibly find a way to “get Brandon out of his shell.”

So began a relationship between the artist and the young man that was to change both their lives. Through the Very Special Artists organization, Nancy worked with Brandon.

Sometimes, we meet people who have the ability to affect our lives on even the deepest levels. In the small town of Fairhope, Raia is using her artistic abilities to improve the lives of an entire community.

Raia has brought out the creativity in many people, while at the same time raising awareness for several charities and organizations. In conjunction with the Eastern Shore Art Center, she has worked with local schools, the American Cancer Society, environmental agencies, the elderly, and victims of Hurricane Katrina.

But  her greatest mission has been her work with VSA (Very Special Artists) of Alabama,  part of a nationwide organization that helps persons with disabilities express themselves through art.

Raia works with a paintbrush, but her art isn’t limited to what she creates on canvas.

“I create art to bring joy," she said. "My take on the world, the people within it, situations; whatever others are experiencing, I feel it's my role to uplift and entertain, bring a smile or a moment of introspection and touch them deep with understanding and a willingness to express what they are feeling for them, or with them."

While she finds great joy in her own work, she finds the greatest reward in bringing out the creativity in others.

“I see my role as the artist being to bring healing to our communities, both the people and the environment they live in," she said. "My role as the teacher is to share as much as I have learned with anyone else who can learn, or wants to learn from me. Art can really be a force to pull a community together.”

Brandon's mom, Linda, credits his work with Raia for helping her son in countless ways.

"The art lessons with Nancy have helped calm Brandon, have helped his self-esteem and confidence and made him a happier person," said Linda.

Landscape by Nancy Raia

Raia began working with VSA five years ago, after a friend asked her to partner with a patient suffering from a disability or chronic illness for a project called ArtPartners by the Bay.

As a professional artist, she paired up with a disabled person with whom she would work closely to create a piece of art that would go to auction. The money raised would be used to continue VSA’s mission.

Besides working as an ArtPartner, Raia has helped raise awareness and funding for the organization. She has worked with the Eastern Shore Art Center and her local ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens) chapter to pair up several local artists with chronically ill and disabled children and adults. This year she helped organize a silent auction, an ArtPartners demonstration, and cocktail hour that raised $13,000 for VSA.

Raia works with people of all ages. Kim is in her forties and has survived two brain tumors. Because of the effects of radiation, she had to give up teaching, which was her passion. Despite her struggles, Kim is always eager to learn, Raia says.   As Kim said, “God may have taken away a lot of things, but he didn’t take away (her) creativity.”

Raia describes the process of working with partners like Brandon as  “like dancing.”

"Sometimes you lead, and sometimes you get a partner that wants you to follow," she said. "Sometimes you start out doing a ballroom dance and end up doing hip hop!”

Here's her account of working with Brandon:

The first time we met, I didn't understand his language, short, hard to understand phrasing. I asked his mom to let him cut out pictures he liked before he came to meet me. He cut out coupons, ads in the Sunday paper...As I sifted through his unusual clippings, I started to see a pattern of things circular.  I quickly took him to the canvas, and standing side by side I drew a dot, he drew a dot. I circled the dot, he circled his. I added daisy petals, he did the same. Then we repeated the process with slight variations of color and shapes. We filled up the canvas with daisies, circular patterns, all bright colors onto a bright red background. We stopped ever so often to stand back and look at it, leaning back like two masterful artists observing their work. Me in my well-used apron and handsome young Brandon in his clean new one. Partners in a moment of sheer fun, and discovery at just what he is able to do, interspersed with laughter and "wash brush now?" or "New paint?" questions posed by the inquisitive artist.    

But, Kim and Brandon are not the only ones to have an impact on Raia. Her experience with VSA has affected her deeply.

“Working with someone who is barely verbal, and watching them jump up and down when they see their art is thrilling beyond belief," she said. "Getting to know someone beyond their ‘handicap’ and find out the depth and beauty of what they have to say and be facilitator who helps them get there is a privilege.”

Using all of her experiences from her work with VSA, Raia has created a vision for the future. She hopes to one day see an entire building devoted to serving the special needs community—one where there is always studio time available and a team trained to work with disabled persons of all ages.

She would also love to use her gifts as an artist to “enlighten the world, and design projects that bring us together out of concern for fellow man, and the environment we all live in.”

For more information about VSA, check out www.vsarts.org

And, for more about Nancy Raia and her community outreach projects, go to www.esartcenter.com/NancyRaia.htm or check out her blog at blog.esartcenter.com