Back in 2001, the movie Beautiful Mind reminded us that beneath the surface of a beautiful mind is a beautiful heart and soul. We often paint broad strokes when we assume the limitations of those with developmental disabilities. Those with "beautiful minds" live as invisible people in our society, yet they are often those whose creativity and genius color our world and re-shape how we think.

We have always heard about St. Madeleine Sophie's Center in El Cajon. The pages of the calendar flipped time and again, but finally the time had come to pay a visit. The City of El Cajon is not, we repeat, is not a tourism mecca. East of San Diego about twenty minutes away is El Cajon. It takes a lot of flack for, shall we say, not having much flair, pop, or pizzazz. El Cajon mostly lives up to that reputation. Every city, though, has secret treasures sometimes buried in non-descript places. El Cajon is no different on that front.

What El Cajon has is St. Madeleine Sophie's Center. St. Madeleine Sophie's Center serves the developmentally disabled community. It provides 12 unique programs from aquatics and organic farming to culinary and computer lab training. For 250 people, St. Madeleine Sophie's Center is a place for developmentally disabled adults to be who they are and to enrich their lives with programs that push the boundaries of what is possible. St. Madeleine Sophie's Center provides the environment for each individual to live, work, and create with dignity.

Sophie's Gallery, a program of St. Madeleine Sophie's Center, looks unimaginative from the outside except if you look to the facade above. There you will find a creative display of whimsically painted chairs defying gravity and giving a hint to what's inside. Step inside St. Madeleine Sophie's Center gallery door and you'll find what appears to be a simple gift shop. Once greeted by a staff person, you'll quickly learn that everything in the store and throughout the building was made by the creative students of Sophie's Gallery. The walls are adorned with bursts of colorful creative expression through the use of mosaics, paper mache, textiles, jewelry, paintings, folk art, greeting cards, and framed art.

Sophie's Gallery is 4,000 square feet of creativity. It is open to the public to visit and tour. Proceeds from the sale of items in the gallery provide income to the students and generate revenue for the St. Madeleine's Sophie's Center. St. Madeleine Sophie's Center is a non-profit organization that has been in existence for over 45 years. The gallery has been part of St. Madeleine Sophie's Center for over 10 years. Artists from the community teach classes at Sophie's Gallery Monday-Friday. The Gallery is considered an open-studio concept which welcomes members of the public to attend classes for a nominal cost.

A place like Sophie's Gallery doesn't get the foot traffic and fanfare of other art galleries or educational institutions. It quietly serves its clientele and keeps the lights on by putting on fundraising special events. St. Madeleine Sophie's Center holds special events, but it also needs and appreciates receiving any donations of materials - fabrics, frames, jewelry, paints, watercolor, canvas, jean jackets, anything for mosaic applications, and really anything that can be used for art. The Gallery welcomes artists (polymer clay, photography, watercolor, etc) from the greater community to donate time and talent to teach classes. The students of Sophie's Gallery can also be commissioned to produce art on any medium. They have already produced customized CD covers, old LP's, umbrellas, jean jackets, framed art and folk art. Do you need customized notecards, holiday cards or invitations? Maybe Sophie's Gallery can create them for you. For these students, art is their world and they bring art to the outside world.

Walking through the Gallery, one gets a feeling that there are no limits to what the mind can do. As a student at St. Madeleine's told us, "everyone has problems." While all of us do have problems, not all of us have the talent that comes from a "beautiful mind" like the students of St. Madeleine Sophie's Center. Sophie's Gallery unlocks the creative potential and engages the joyful spirits of those who otherwise have challenges to meet everyday. The ability shown in their artwork only blurs the line between the visible and invisible and between the abled and disabled in our communities.

*Financial donations can be made here.