- Well, we all know in life it's okay to change course.

Next, you'll meet one local man who did that.

He found a detour that led to his true calling.

"Carolina Impact's", Chris Clark, explores how he's creating instruments for others to follow their own tune one note at a time.

(tool scraping) - [Chris] Brad Robinson is living proof that just like the wood on his workbench, life can be reshaped.

(tool scraping) From the trials of his past, he's forged something extraordinary, embodying reinvention and resilience, turning separate pieces into tools of purpose, beauty and second chances.

- There's magic in his hands.

I'm telling you.

- I think he puts his personality into it.

- [Chris] To understand the size and scope of all this, we need to step back two full decades.

But Brad's life was on a much different path.

Fresh out of the Navy, he was sharp and driven.

On the surface, he had it all together, but wasn't a pattern that was holding him back.

- When I got out, I was a highly functioning alcoholic.

I could get up and go to work every day and do everything fine, but I drank way too much.

- [Chris] Brad made it to his senior year of college before things unraveled, forcing him to drop out.

The breaking point came in a quiet field in Burlington where the weight of his own choices became too much to bear.

And in that moment, he reached out for something greater, something strong enough to help him stand again.

- I hurt so bad and I went to so many places and I tried so many things.

Everything you could think to get rid of an addiction.

I tried it and it didn't work.

And I got on my knees and I prayed and I just, "God, if You'll just let me be sober, I'll do anything You want."

And I passed out on my truck and I came to... And I didn't want to drink.

It was, like, if I were to pick up a thing, a 409 cleaner, said, "Here you go" with the thought of drinking it across your mind.

I mean, it wouldn't even, like, "Oh, it's poison, it'll kill me, right?"

It was the exact same thing.

- [Chris] That was June of 2009 and sobriety gave him clarity, but it left a void.

Determined not to waste his second chance, he threw himself into a search for purpose.

A chance conversation with a friend, set him up on the path to his next career.

- I was in my wood shop on that lathe making a bowl.

Just making a wooden bowl and he was standing there talking to me.

He said, "Man, you've got some really good hand skills and, you know, you've done some anatomy, physiology, maybe you should come see what I do."

I'm, like, "Oh, okay."

And when he first told me, he's, like, "Yeah, build legs for people that are missing a leg."

- [Chris] Crafting prosthetics was a perfect blend of precision and artistry.

With his first creation, Brad felt its true weight, not just reshaping limbs, but transforming lives and futures.

- We went and put it on and she starts walking in the gate bars and she really starts to cry.

And she said, "This is the first leg I've ever been able to walk on that didn't hurt.

Like, you've allowed me to move and be mobile."

And I look over and her parents are crying.

Her brother's crying.

I start crying.

My buddy started...

I'm, like, "Man, I gotta do this the rest of my life."

- [Chris] For 12 years, Brad poured his heart into crafting prosthetics.

When the COVID shut down, closed that chapter, life offered a new twist.

Visiting his friend Bob Kogut's violin workshop, he was captivated by the craft.

Watching the wood curl from a chisel, he thought, "Why not make one myself?"

- It was just the neatest thing I'd ever seen.

Like, you start with a stack of wood and you get done.

You carve it with chisels and knives and scrapers and then when you finish, here's an instrument.

- [Chris] Each Tuesday for the next six weeks, Brad went to Bob's workshop working side by side, Bob guiding him through the art of shaping each delicate piece that brought a violin to life.

- He'd show me, "All right, this how you do a scroll and you this and that."

You know, gimme a bunch of resources.

I'd come home and I'd ruin three or four pieces of wood.

- [Chris] Brad even managed to turn his hobby into quality family time, teaming up with his daughter to make it something they could share together.

- It's really nice.

I really like doing it.

We just turn on some music and we just focus.

- [Chris] Eventually, he had his first violin.

Bob praised the craftsmanship.

His friends marveled at the result.

But Brad wanted more than kind words.

He craved the unvarnished truth.

How else could he improve without real criticism?

And he got it from Glen Alexander at the violin shop.

- He looks at it and he goes, "That's not a violin, that's a piece of folk art."

- It was rough enough to where I said, you know, "Here's like a violin shaped object, but this is not a violin."

- [Chris] It would've been easy to bristle, but Brad didn't flinch.

He took notes, went back to his workshop, he refined his technique transforming the lessons from his first attempt into precision and artistry.

Violins he builds now aren't just good, they're some of the finest in the region.

(gentle violin music) - Drew my bow across it for like half a second.

I was like, "Oh my goodness."

It's got a really nice richness to it that I enjoy and a deepness to it.

- [Chris] Round two at the violin shop was also much different.

- I was completely blown away.

One, they had a certain tone to it that I felt like... Is something that I feel like he's probably gonna get, you know, known for.

So this is a $9,000 instrument.

This was my instrument.

(gentle violin music) So I mean, that's a good sounding violin.

But as far as power and tone, to me it just doesn't compare.

(lively violin music) - [Chris] The plans can be bought, so can the tools and the materials.

So what is it that sets his creations apart and has them selling for thousands of dollars?

- He's excited about what he does and I feel like in order to be good at something, you have to be fired up about it.

- There's something that he's doing that's just different from what normal makers are doing.

- Nobody showed me like the way to do it by the book, so I'm probably screwing three things up, but I know that they're structurally sound and I'm making 'em just like everybody else.

I've had some old timers that play, you know, some of my fiddles and they say, "Whatever you're doing, don't go to school and don't read a book.

For heaven's sake, don't do that."

- [Chris] Brad's journey just like the violins he crafts is a testament to reinvention and resilience.

Through precision, passion, and a touch of artistry, he found harmony in life's second chances.

For "Carolina Impact", I'm Chris Clark.

(gentle violin music)