In our region, there's a small farm doing big things for kids.

AAA Therapeutic Solutions isn't just growing produce, it's cultivating confidence, connection, and care.

"Carolina Impact's" Chris Clark shows us how families come here for fresh air and hands-on learning, but what they take home runs much deeper.

- [Chris] Inside a traditional classroom, you'll find rows of tiny chairs, fluorescent lights, and a box of crayons to spark the imagination.

(Dominique and kids screaming) Out here in West Charlotte the walls are made of sunshine and sky.

Instead of a bell, you'll hear the laughter of children and a chatter of turkeys.

(turkeys chattering) There are llamas and chickens to feed, rabbits to care for, and a zip line that teaches better balance than any worksheet ever could.

(zipline whirring) Welcome to AAA Therapeutic Farm where healing and learning take root in the open air.

- I love occupational therapy, but within a clinical setting I was getting burnt out and I felt like the clients that I wanted to serve, their treatments were being dictated based on insurance.

These families felt like they weren't getting the support they needed at schools.

I was trying to think, how can I mesh the two together?

- [Chris] She first explored the healing power of animals through hippotherapy, using horses to help clients build balance, confidence, and connection.

- I love that setting and I saw the therapeutic benefits of it, but I'm actually pretty fearful of horses.

(Dominique laughing) - [Chris] That led her to llamas, smaller, gentler, easier to handle.

But what about her husband?

- I was like, we're not getting llamas, this is crazy, whatever.

- [Chris] Famous last words.

Once he saw 'em in person, it didn't take long before even the skeptics were eating out of their hands or at least feeding them grain from a bucket.

- When I walked into the stable and my youngest daughter was maybe about two or three years old, and the llamas were moving out her way, and once I seen how gentle they were to her, I knew this is something that we had to have.

- [Chris] And that gentle moment became the spark.

- He knew it was slowly going downhill when we were hiding llamas in my parents' backyard, so.

(Dominique laughing) - [Chris] The family resettled on Charlotte's West side, started AAA Therapeutic Solutions and before Long had a full grown farm.

Each child doing their part, Amara handles the rabbits.

- I have to give them food and water, and I have to like change their hay sometimes.

- [Chris] Amari looks after the llamas and takes care of the chickens.

- And their eggs are different colors.

- [Chris] Universally despised is the Turkey.

- And he always follows us around and tries to pick at us - [Chris] More than a barnyard it's a living classroom, where preschoolers learn through movement, creativity, and connection with the natural world.

- Patterns they're not just drawing it on a worksheet, they're actually seeing it in nature so they can identify it on leaves, animals, even on each other's clothing.

So I feel like it makes simple things stick better so they're set up to be successful when they transition.

- [Chris] Oh, there's structure here, sure.

The kids do yoga, paint, and create something new every day, but like most preschoolers, their attention span is about as big as they are and their curiosity reaches even higher.

One moment they're counting vegetables in the garden.

(kid speaking gibberish) Next, they're on a mission spotting salamanders under logs.

- [Dominique] Don't touch.

What color?

- [Chris] Even the latest Camry equipment, everything becomes a teachable moment.

- It creates those concrete synapsis so it's like, okay, we learned about smooth and rough, but can I identify this outside of the book?

We're making it student led so that if they wanna dig deeper into it, they can.

- [Chris] The goal is to break a pattern that begins far too early.

One where children of color and children with disabilities are disciplined more often and more harshly than their peers.

According to the US Department of Education study, those first suspensions can become the first steps in what's often called the preschool to prison pipeline.

When bias or a misunderstanding of a child's needs leads to exclusion instead of support.

- Sometimes it's just a kid that's constantly overstimulated and extremely aggressive, where they can come here and they're just calm.

Like they don't even wanna interact with other people, they just wanna sit and watch the chickens for hours.

Even family members where it's like, if we would've took our child somewhere else, they would've got kicked out of school, they feel like their kids don't fit, and we don't want kids to feel like that.

We don't want them to feel like a puzzle piece that's in the wrong puzzle.

- [Chris] In a few short years since its inception, the progress has been remarkable.

- One kid never used to talk, I barely heard him talk, and one day I'm coming home and he said, "Mr.

Rell, Mr.

Rell," that kind of changed me.

I kind of looked at him and said, Wow, this is working.

- [Chris] It's in those little moments, a word, a smile, a spark of connection, where the real progress shows, small victories that speak louder than any lesson plan.

- This morning one of our kids that's nonverbal, he doesn't play with the other kids, but he likes watching, but seeing all his friends come up and say, good morning, like it just made me feel good like, he doesn't have to be in the mix, but he's still loved, and cared, and respected for by his peers.

- [Chris] And that's what Dominique and her team are building here, not just milestones but readiness.

- We wanna identify behaviors that might be a hindrance when they go to school.

We wanna prepare families.

We wanna be that support system.

We wanna make sure everybody's feeling included.

- [Chris] At AAA Therapeutic Farm healing takes many forms.

Sometimes it looks like a yoga pose, sometimes a laugh, sometimes it's a child whispering good morning.

And every one of those moments means growth is taking root.

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