Creative Fields has been designed for youth with neurodiverse mental health or learning needs, or trauma and stressor-related disorders like:

• ADHD

• Complex PTSD or PTSD

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

• Depression or Anxiety

**More info further down on this page

We do accept "neurotypical” teens and young adults, but will consider these youth after ensuring we’ve made space for neurodiverse youth first.

Youth participants must be between the ages of 14 and 19 to participate. This means you must be within the age range in September of the year you begin. 

Youth work with and are mentored by professional artists, get introduced to new artmaking methods and use materials they may not have otherwise had access to. Through the program participants gain valuable arts career experience, and form both professional relationships with artists and friendships with other teens and young adults. 

During Phase 1 of the program year, youth attend Open Studios with our mentor teacher, Kimberly Zzyzx and attend hands-on workshops at artist’s studios all around the high desert to learn about how artists make their living, and experiment hands-on with their artistic medium or practice. Youth participants will get PAID for this portion of Creative Fields, $100 per workshop series. Think of it as an informal internship.

During Phase 2 Studio Collaboration, youth participants will create their own group or individual projects for an art exhibition in June in our Twentynine Palms studio classroom, with Teaching Artists’ support.

Creative Fields is a 30-week program that runs from the end of September to the beginning of June.

We meet on Wednesday afternoons from 2:30 to 5:30pm. 

You can see all the dates for the entire year on our Google Calendar here. 

The skills you’ll learn in Creative Fields can help you create your first resume, and try out different careers. You never know what paths might unfold in front of you! You’ll leave our year-long program knowing a lot more, not just about the different artmaking methods of each artist, but about how to thrive in professional creative workplaces.

We could be working with a ceramics artist who makes sculptures of desert wildlife for a living. Or maybe a sound engineer who runs a recording studio in the desert. We may work with artists who paint part-time and help beautify landscapes for people for some of their other income. You’ll get to meet and work with many different creative professionals.

Creative Fields is offered free of charge, through the generosity of the Dale and Edna Walsh Foundation, and the California Arts Council, a state agency. To learn more, visit arts.ca.gov.

We understand that getting around can be a challenge in the high desert, especially if parents or caregivers are working and youth are without alternate transportation. Creative Fields provides free door-to-door transportation for all participants who need it, and free pickups at three central locations along highway 62 for participants who don’t need transportation, but want to join the vanpool (it saves gas, emissions, and as it turns out.. is a lot of fun.)