artist profile: thanh diep

Thanh Diep was born in Vietnam in 1977 and since 1998 she’s been creating art at the Creativity Explored studio in San Francisco—
a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell art.

An accomplished artist in traditional media—as well as film and animation—Diep captures dramatic impact in a charcoal scene of ascending evergreens that grow stark in the secluded forest of the foggy landscape pillow.

Although she speaks with the assistance of an augmentative and alternative communication device due to cerebral palsy, she has created soundtracks for animated films and written a book, Thanh.

The first graduate of The Bridge School in Hillsborough, and is the first Bridge School alumna to graduate from college, Diep received her BA in 2005 from San Francisco State University where she majored in Liberal Studies.

Media works include short films and—along with her artwork—have been featured at MadCat Women’s International Film Festival, Artists Television Access, The Mission Cultural Center, Noh Space/Theater of Yugen, Brava Theater as well as at the Picture This Festival in Calgary, BC.

To spend one minute with Thanh Diep in the Creativity Explored studio, go here.