Children's Prison Arts Project

Children’s Prison Arts Project (CPAP) was developed in 1994 by Birgit Walker, Melissa Thibodeaux, and Mario Jose Olvera as a non-profit project in Houston's West Dallas Juvenile Detention Center. The program was organized with the intention of providing a constructive way for at-risk youth housed in the facility to express themselves through the arts. The program later was expanded to serve juvenile offenders in several other facilities in the area including the Burnett-Bayland Home and the Tejas Home for Youth.

In an eleven year period, CPAP’s programs served more than 11,000 such youths and their families. Local sponsors for the program included the Brown Foundation, the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County and the Houston Endowment Fund.

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