When Samuel Hinojosa first discovered his passion for videography and the performing arts, a passion he says is in his genes because he has family who are also in the arts, participating in theater productions and expressing himself through dance became a part of his daily routine. But when he turned 22, he suddenly aged
CAA’s Director of the School of Communications For the past nine years, Professor Anthony Nguyen has been a familiar and welcoming face in the CAA community. With his background in journalism and a passion for connecting with people, Professor Anthony has built a classroom environment centered on creativity, confidence, and community. Professor Anthony graduated from
At only 5 years old, Andre lost his parents and began a long and painful stay in the foster care system, not really having anyone to trust or love him. Eventually he started hanging out with the wrong people and faced his share of troubles. Being developmentally and physically disabled, people often took advantage of
In 2002, Mimi Giannini’s daughter Morgan was born with an intellectual disability, and she began her journey into the world of special education. Mimi dealt with speech therapists, occupational therapists and special aides and had to jump through many hoops when it came to her daughter’s education. When Morgan was five years old,
When Ann Lunt was recovering from foot surgery two years ago, she came across a story about CAA on Channel 7’s “Localish” TV show and she immediately knew it was a place where she belonged. “I love CAA,” Ann said. “Everyone is really friendly and the teachers understand us.” Ann has lived on her own
This is a blog post that is most unexpected and heart-wrenching for our College of Adaptive Arts Mountain Movers community. This past week we lost one of our truest and long-standing Mountain Mover board members, Mr. Joseph Siecinski. Joe walked into our small, rented space at Randol School in 2010. He was in a full
Sharon Lea has always had a love of music, but it wasn’t until joining CAA that she could actually meld both her passion and her career. Sharon obtained her degree in English from Chico State and worked most of her life in administrative roles. The companies she worked for made products like medical devices, and
When Curtis Kitaji was first born, his family was told that he wouldn’t be able to speak. Fast forward many years later, and Curtis is one of the most prominent performers you’ll meet. In fact, his dream is actually to become an actor one day. Curtis takes acting and songwriting classes at CAA and recently
Longtime College of Adaptive Arts supporter and donor Erin Benford has been an integral part of the school since its inception. Erin has been a well-known realtor in the South Bay for nearly twenty years. She currently works for Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno, but prior to that she was a teacher, so she always
Kimberly was born in May 1978. She was a beautiful baby but something seemed off so testing was done and it was determined that she had Down syndrome. Testing also revealed she had a heart defect with a hole between chambers and a valve that didn’t work properly. This was all new to us. She
