Americans for the Arts: At-Risk Youth
http://www.artsusa.org/youtharts/ 
AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS is an "information clearinghouse with a 40-year track record of objective arts industry research, dedicated to serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate the arts." On the page of the larger site, at-risk students are addressed with tools for partnerships in an after-school setting. Programs include Metropolitan Life Foundation YouthARTS Initiative and Coming Up Taller.

Arts for All, Inc.
http://www.artsforallinc.org/default.htm
Arts For All, an after-school program in the performing arts for children with disabilities, was founded by pediatric physical therapist Marcia Berger. Located in Tucson, Arizona, Arts For All currently has twelve programs which merge human services and the arts. The students, ages three through adulthood, improve their language through singing, their coordination through dance, their visual perception through art classes, and their thought processes and communication through drama. Events offer ASL Interpretation, Audio Description, Wheelchair Accessibility, and Tactile Tours. Videotapes, compact disks, and books are available through the newsletter. At this time, after-school dance classes have not yet been posted.

Association of Hispanic Arts
http://www.latinoarts.org/  
Promoting Latino arts and artists, the New York Association of Hispanic Arts (AHA) offers highlights of its quarterly magazine. Articles incorporate Latino music and film, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Puerto Rican folklore, and a Latina playwright’s journey. Information on opportunities, workshops, fellowships, and grants are available. LOLA Net (Latino On-Line Arts Network) offers a searchable database for artists and cultural organizations around the country.

Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists
http://www.amfpa.com/
A worldwide artists organization numbering about 500, AMFPA features a gallery with artist's biographies, videos of working artists, and published articles about painting techniques. Information is available in multiple languages, including Spanish.

AXIS Dance Company
http://www.axisdance.org
Education and outreach have been a part of AXIS Dance Company's work in "integrated dance" that provides dance opportunities to all people, regardless of background, with and without disabilities since 1987. Residencies, performances, and classes are offered, as well as research papers on dance and disability. Video clips of eight of the company's nearly thirty works are available. There is an alphabetical listing of dance companies that employ a similar philosophy.

Body-Mind Rhythmic Movement
http://www.susankramer.com/moving.html
This site sequentially teaches rhythmic body movements that can be expanded and combined into patterns. It has easy to follow directions and illustrations, allowing a teacher with little dance experience to sequentially teach rhythmic body movements to a young audience. Academic focus activities are offered that tie body movement in with both Language Arts and Mathematics.

CanTeach
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/theme14.html
CanTeach is a Canadian meta-site comprised of resources and links for elementary teachers. Of interest to teachers of special needs arts students is a “Theme List” of books about children with disabilities and illnesses. In “Elementary Resources,” author Dan Lukiv’s “Home-grown Publishing” describes a creative writing program called “Story Day.” Part Two has a complete description of the Story Day process, which can easily be adapted to a playwrighting format. The involvement of a diverse group of students within the classroom culture powers the production.

Center for Universal Design
http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/  
The Center for Universal Design, an initiative of the College of Design at North Carolina State University, is dedicated to the principle that the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. This site has excellent resources on environment and disability, including publications and videos that can be purchased. The seven design principles can be applied to classrooms as well as lessons to make them usable for as many students as possible.

Creative Growth Art Center
http://www.creativegrowth.org/index.html
The Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California, provides creative art programs, educational and independent living training, counseling, and vocational opportunities for adults who are physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled. Originally funded by the National Endowment, the Creative Growth Art Center was the first art gallery for disabled adults in the country. In-studio programs are available for different levels of art training. The online gallery features works of many artists and includes a biography of each. The Center’s artists have been internationally exhibited and published in several works, including The Boy That Time Forgot and Metamorphosis: The Fiber Art of Judith Scott. Metamorphosis and some of the artworks are for sale online.

Coalition for Disabled Musicians
http://www.disabled-musicians.org/
Established in 1986, the Coalition for Disabled Musicians, Inc. (CDM) is a voluntary, nonprofit organization dedicated to enabling physically disabled musicians to pursue their musical dreams. The site includes a National Referral Service to facilitate contact between musicians and organizations with similar interests on a local level. CDM performs at schools and businesses inspiring students of all abilities. Sound samples are available for download. Merchandise, services, etc., do have charges associated with them.

Creative Alternatives of New York
http://www.cany.org/  
Creative Alternatives of New York provides comprehensive therapeutic theatre workshops to populations with special needs. With a unique combination of theatre and modern group psychotherapy, CANY artists lead workshops and perform theater in shelters for the homeless, in family residences for single mothers and their children, in veterans hospitals, in troubled inner-city schools, and in alcohol rehabilitation centers. This site is a good place to start because the resources are somewhat limited.

Firehouse Theatre Company
http://www.firehousetheatercompany.org/
Firehouse Theatre activities include workshops and productions of professional and emerging playwrights. Especially noted for including writers and performers with physical or sensory disabilities, Firehouse Theatre Company has worked extensively with the children and teenagers involved in public schools.

Getting Noticed
http://www.ndaf.org/gettingnoticed/index.html
Getting Noticed, sponsored by the National Disability Arts Forum of the United Kingdom, aims to help young people who are disabled find opportunities in the arts. Includes an exhibition of forty posters created by disabled artists and a Resource Pack for educators. Also available are audio and video clips from work by disabled filmmaker Chris Ledger, Moving from Within. The clips include interviews and performances by other disabled artists.

Gifted and Talented Endorsement Program
http://www.indiana.edu/~edci/gift_tal.html
The Gifted and Talented Endorsement Program offered at the School of Education at Indiana University in Bloomington is a program for teachers, administrators, graduate students, and counselors. Courses are offered over two summers and include the nature and needs of artistically talented students, including teaching strategies and practical applications. Program Chair Enid Zimmerman, NAEA Art Educator of the Year (1998) has written extensively on art education and gifted education, including "Art Talent Development, Creativity, and Enrichment Programs for Artistically Talented Students in Grades K-8."

Healing Harps
http://www.healingharps.org/Introduction/introduction.html
Healing Harps is a nonprofit organization focusing on music and musicianship co-founded by Ron Price, Professor of Harp at Northern Illinois University. While celebrating life through its unique voice, the diverse membership ranging in age from four to ninety-six includes many members challenged by disabilities or health problems. Healing Harps conducts a Teacher Training Program in which professional level harpists work with faculty in the fields of medicine, psychology, neurosciences, and music. Festivals and Monster Days are conducted nationwide several times a year.

Heart 'n Soul
http://www.heartnsoul.co.uk
The musical theatre company is comprised of 14 performers with learning disabilities who work closely with 4 professional musicians. Members write their own music and lyrics and have devised and toured 10 full-scale musical productions across the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. Heart 'n Soul outreach includes a television show, satellite workshops, and residencies.

High Beam Festival
http://www.artsinaction.asn.au/hbg/index.htm  
High Beam Festival is Australia’s biennial international arts festival, showcasing contemporary works influenced or inspired by experience of disability. This ten-day multi-arts festival presents the latest in disability arts – new perceptions, innovations, and visions. High Beam is the largest festival of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and offers a spectacular program of music, comedy, theatre, dance, art, debate, workshops, and community events.

Hoagie’s Gifted Education Page
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_gifted.htm
The Webmaster from the Hollingsworth Center for the Highly Gifted has created Hoagie’s Gifted Education Page, especially rich in articles and links addressing special needs students. The section for Musically Gifted presents several important articles, including “Performing Arts Instruction for Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted Children,” by Beth Wright, which is of interest to all teachers. There is a search function to access specific books and resources.

National Arts and Disability Center
http://nadc.ucla.edu/
The National Arts and Disability Center (NADC) is the national information dissemination, technical assistance, and referral center specializing in the field of arts and disability. The NADC is dedicated to promoting the full inclusion of children and adults with disabilities into the visual, performing, media, and literary arts communities. Its resource directories, annotated bibliographies, related links, and conferences serve to advance artists with disabilities and accessibility to the arts. The NADC is a project of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), University Affiliated Program. A search feature is available under Resources Calendar of Events to access performance information.

National Center for Accessible Media
http://ncam.wgbh.org/index.html
The CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media is a research and development facility dedicated to achieving media access equality for people with disabilities. The site includes a search feature for theatres that screen current films with Rear Window® Captioning for deaf and hard-of–hearing students, and DVS Theatrical for blind and visually impaired students. Also of interest is The Personal Captioning Project that studied classroom application and learning benefits of creating one’s own captioned video. Materials available from the Center are a video, journal articles, and a handbook, Writing with Video: an Idea Book for Captioning in the Classroom.

National Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/forum/index.html
ARTSEDGE, the National Arts and Education Information Network, hosted the online component of the first-ever National Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities, which took place June 14-16, 1998. Online participants may still access the Forum's Agenda, Daily Updates, Concept Papers, Keynote Addresses (many of which, along with panel discussions, have been audio- and video-streamed at this site), People (biographies of the presenters and authors), and Final Recommendations.

National Theatre of the Deaf
http://www.ntd.org
The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) is an artistic haven for performing artists using American Sign Language where they can discover, develop, and enhance their talent. NTD is the premiere theatre company for the deaf artist, creating professional performing opportunities at first-class levels across the country and around the world. NTD Professional Theatre School (PTS) is the only professional theatre-training program for deaf people in America. The PTS Jr program is for talented deaf high school students. NTD also offers professional development programs which can be found under "The Actor's Academy."

National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped
http://www.ntwh.org/
The National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped (NTWH) provides the disabled community with the communication skills necessary to pursue a life in professional theatre and enhance their opportunities in the workplace. Since 1977, NTWH has been an advocate for persons with disabilities and offered a forum for dramatic literature on these themes.

New Horizons for Learning
http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/front_spneeds.html
New Horizons for Learning, the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State site, features a special needs section which incorporates gifted students. Danny Deardorff’s song “Everyone is Differently Abled,” articles and books with integrated arts, and learning strategies are included. Of interest in the Boston Public Schools section is a description of Ron Berger’s public elementary in Shutesbury, Massachusetts that uses an arts-integrated, project-based curriculum.

Perkins School for the Blind
http://www.perkins.org/  
Famous alumna Helen Keller’s story is available, along with pictures and quotes from her autobiography. Music materials in braille, large print, and cassette formats are provided to library patrons through the National Library Service. A special centralized library for musicians with disabilities features a collection of more than 30,000 books, musical scores, and instructional recordings. Audio courses in guitar, recorder, accordion, piano, organ, and voice have been specifically developed.

StopGAP
http://www.stopgap.uk.com/html/whoweare.html
StopGAP is a Surrey, England, dance company which uses each dancer's physical and intellectual potential as a starting point for new work. Their mission is to demonstrate what can be achieved through the spirit of integration in dance. The repertory is often presented in nontraditional and alternative spaces for people who may not have easy access to such opportunities. The site includes a Discussion Forum with performance dates and a downloadable copy of their philosophy.

The Coming Up Taller: Arts and Humanities Programs for Children and Youth At-Risk
http://www.cominguptaller.org/
Research and program descriptions are available from Coming Up Taller, a private sector patrons program with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. This is the fifth year of $10,000 awards to recognize and support excellence in arts and humanities programs that take place outside the school curriculum, beyond the classroom, and during non-school hours.

The Gallaudet Dance Company
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/dance
The Gallaudet Dance Company is a performing group whose members are undergraduate or graduate students at Gallaudet University, the world's only accredited liberal arts university for deaf and hard of hearing students. The company performs a variety of dance forms, such as modern dance, tap, jazz, and, of course, dances incorporating American Sign Language. The site includes important references in training deaf or hard of hearing dancers.

Theater Communications Group
http://www.tcg.org
In "We are not a Metaphor, A Conversation About Representation" moderated by Kathleen Tolan, disabled theatre artists challenge assumptions about what disability is and what it means. The text of the conversation is published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), a national service organization for the American Theatre that exists to strengthen, nurture, and promote nonprofit American theatre. TGC Live involves online chats with theatre artists and cultural leaders, which may be a problem for student users.

Touchart.com
http://www.touchart.com/
Padraig Naughton, an Irish visual artist and teacher who is also visually impaired, explains his use of tactile references and his art works. Developed during his study in Craft Design Ceramics at the National College of Art and Design Dublin, these tactile references are roughly based on massage strokes as a form of mark making. The site includes his visit to Japanese schools, exhibits, and research.

Touch Compass Dance Trust
http://www.touchcompass.org.nz/
Touch Compass Dance Company, under the direction of Catherine Chappell, empowers people of all abilities to become role models for the community. The New Zealand company’s Web site includes images and reviews of current work, including aerial projects. Two instructional manuals are available: “This Moment” with Stanford faculty member Martin Keogh and “The Passage.” Each manual documents teacher-training intensives and includes exercises and skills.

VSA Arts
http://www.vsarts.org/
This is a comprehensive site relating to art and the disabled. Provides advocacy, information, and exhibition opportunities for special needs artists and students. In 1999, Very Special arts changed its name to VSA Arts. Now standing for Vision, Strength and Artistic Expression, VSA Arts is an international organization that creates learning opportunities through the arts for people with disabilities. The organization offers arts-based programs in creative writing, dance, drama, music, and visual arts.