KEYRIS MANZANARES: Bukuru Nyandwi arrives at Milk River Arts, inside Studio Two Three, ready to paint.

The artist from Tanzania was one of the first to join Milk River Arts when it opened in summer of 2015.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Sally Kemp was inspired to start a program for people with disabilities after noticing a gap in creative spaces for young artists as they transition into adulthood.

SALLY KEMP: I tell people Milk River Arts It's a professional workspace for adult artists with disabilities, and through that work, we have grown a pretty tight cool community that represents, neurodivergent artists.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Kemp says the program's eight studio artists are problem solvers who are filled with talent and the ability to create.

SALLY KEMP: I will look over and I'll see him painting with that paintbrush between his shoulder and his cheek.

Sometimes it's in his mouth doing this detailed work.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Bukuru’s paintings are colorful depictions of communal experiences celebrating life, religion, and people helping each other.

At Milk River Arts, Bukuru works alongside his mentor, Barry O'Keefe.

BARRY O’KEEFE: I think Bukuru’s kind of a magical fella in that way, in that.

it's tremendously easy to just jump into that relationship.

He says, “I can do that” a lot.

English is his third language.

And so, like, those little phrases that are Bukuru-isms and, “I can do that” is one of them.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Together, Bukuru and O'Keefe mix paint, finding the right shade and collaborating with each other.

BARRY O’KEEFE: The artists that we work with, And they- when they come to us, they often have a pretty defined voice and identity as an artist.

And we function in a lot of ways, like a gallery rather than, you know, rather than a school.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Bukuru’s been hard at work preparing for his first solo gallery exhibition at Quirk Hotel, opening mid-July and running through September.

SALLY KEMP: Come out and experience what it feels like to enter a gallery where, the work is all hung lower than you expect to see it because it's not at standard gallery hanging height, it's at wheelchair height.

So that you're going to experience, a space and a place from the perspectives that Bukuru experiences.

KERYIS MANZANARES: With a brush in his mouth, Bukuru adds the finishing touches to his collection of paintings.

He's excited to showcase years of hard work.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: for VPM News, I’m Keyris Manzanares.