We all know that ceramic art is a unique tool to help people rediscover their creative and autonomy potential to cope with the difficulties of transformation, evolution and development of an individual's growth. The Pandora Ability project, mostly self-funded, activated in 2015, is directed at the psychological and physical well-being of people with disabilities, in order to promote work as a means of aggregation, highlighting the therapeutic and social effects that can result from ceramic manipulation, and especially, the expression and completion of one's own being.
Pandora Ability's goal is the inclusion of people with disabilities in a specific social and work experience in the field of ceramics with advanced courses and social projects of "Independent Living." An educational and therapeutic project of our able-bodied artists designed with training courses, moments of sociability and growth, along with exhibition, cultural and recreational activities (such as the summer vacation together) that transmit to all of them an interest in the knowledge of artistic-craft pottery and applied arts, in order to support their personal, educational and professional affirmation and autonomy. Pottery is used not as an art end in itself, but as a tool for creating, stimulating, remembering, reconstructing one's identity, restoring one's existential balance; the same becomes an educational means to self-respect and respect for the other in analogy to its ambivalent characteristic: "endurance in fragility," which is the very element of pottery. 
Thus is born a path of integration within the group, made up of kids who are in part already autonomous and by now, after years of learning, masters of the subject, where the basic ingredients are sensitivity and the joy of sharing, accompanying the new recruits and the kids with more serious problems, to welcome them in a serene, cheerful environment that makes them feel important, safe, masters of the place and stimulates them in creation. Our way of seeing and conceiving disability is a welcoming way, where they can find serenity and themselves in a dimension not of entertainment of a few hours just to keep them occupied, but of making them participants, protagonists: a well from which we are able to bring out and discover their values, their skills that are obviously different for everyone, but of which no one is devoid. It's all about bringing them out, without prejudice or pro forma rules.
Fundamental ingredients are mainly love, patience, and passion towards each of them, conveying endless signs of openness, learning and of wanting to do, each in his or her own way: that knowing how to do is important to be able to grasp, transform, shape and draw out the soul. Their wonderful objects contain and transmit that pure, love-filled soul from which each of us can draw endlessly.
Pandora Ability represents for the boys, for me and for the other group leaders a staple, a stimulus to creativity, to see with different eyes and hands, the strength and courage to move forward in difficulties, a place to find energy and strength even in dark times. Kids are now part of our lives, they are masters at reading feelings and flood us with their good and love with sincere words, letters, hugs, caresses and messages that manage to make you feel "special." But the "special ones" are they, skilled in learning not only the art but also the feelings and giving without ulterior motives. The kids compete to make you feel unique. You often empathize with each of them, becoming the friend, the sister, the confidant.
In this pandemic period, unfortunately the dedicated days have decreased to about six hours per week; alternating between clay working and decorating days. An articulated course that, starting with sensory and visual stimulation, aims to develop fine manual dexterity, the ability to handle a task independently, as well as the definition of one's own style. For each stage of the design of the methods provided by us educators and the realization of ideas, the children are accompanied to the stage of creation with tools adapted to them, sometimes designed for each individual student, so that they can facilitate their own work in the execution of the artifact: prototypes are created with their presence, providing shapes, pre-printed cutouts etc. The skilled artists immediately memorize and recreate them, incorporating their own creativity.
And woe betide you if you forget any passages! They scold you like real masters. Prototypes and designs begin to mold, the object is transformed and becomes unique thanks to their ingenuity and imaginationRules are fundamental, from the beginning to the end of the course; in this time of health emergency, each day begins as a ritual, divided by scheduled actions; they take the agenda to write down one at a time who enters and follow each one step by step so that everyone performs the steps of disinfection and temperature measurement, hand washing and spacing. Each one is regularly inspected at the turn of the wheel by one of them, the so-called veterans of the workshop and those who can write; these are supervised and controlled by Mila Benincasa who together with Enza della Femmina in charge of the group, members and mothers of some of them, are also the basic and irreplaceable figures, together with Maestro Salvatore Passaretta, another solid figure in our workshop, who accompany me and help in this beautiful project.
The precision and shrewdness in proceeding like clockwork at all stages has become almost pathological in my boys: everything starts with the arrangement of materials and their own tools. Each of them is responsible for one area, for rearranging and cleaning the workshop. Mario and Gaetano, the eldest of the group, usually arrive much earlier with their usual smiles and make jokes and little good-natured indiscretions about themselves and their friends, making us participate. They begin, like site managers, to bring the workshop to life. Then we begin to prepare the workshop, each with his or her own task: Carmen, Anna, Giovanna, Marika, Maurizio, Roberta place the tablets and the places, which at this time are well spaced out and occupy the two large rooms of the headquarters, then the arrangement of the material that will be needed for the prearranged day, pieces of clay cut to perfection, resting on their own tablet and all the tools, without forgetting anything, because among themselves they check and suggest to each other everything that is missing! Then, if it's decorating day, the tables are set and colored with glazes, brushes and anything else they may need, resting their personal creations with the precision of those who know and recognize the entire work of each friend. In decorating they unleash even more of their imagination accompanied by mastery of the material, brushing on different layers of color and waiting for me to assent to the last step. So they help me cover the artifacts with crystalline; not to mention how good they have become with the third fire that make their works even more beautiful and precious. The workshop slowly fills up with cheerfulness, whispers, laughter, and the kids arriving as they go, and here are still Giuseppe, Simone, Flora, Miriam, Fabrizio, Antonella who gradually take their places: and the magic of their know-how begins! The design work often starts with the theme of the times of the year which can be Christmas, Easter, summer time etc. Yesterday, for example at this time, they proposed me to create something for Valentine's Day: yes, because they, the artists, are all in love and want to show off for that day a personalized gift of their own! So off we go, some take the textures, some take the plaster casts, the molds, the templates and the rolling pins and under our watchful supervision we help the kids who are not completely autonomous and so between laughter, music in the background, the skilled hands start each one with their own skill. They create different shapes but each with its own tangible mark: "The heart" added lovingly and unsparingly in their crafts. It is enchanting in those hours, which fly by lightheartedly, to hear the names of us teachers ring out again and again to ask for advice and show what they are creating, and sometimes there is even some reprimand. It is nice to see how they help each other, with a disarming smile and endless patience, never tiring. And then the crafts begin to take shape, all filled with a positive, cheerful energy. The crafts for the most part are neat, clean. Those somewhat shapeless few (even those) take on meaning and strength as they are created from the more fragile ones. Time to finish and put away, but there would still be hours left to create and be together. Each of them, as they go, puts their work back on the shelf, cleaning and arranging their place. And there the deafening and engaging chatter begins again as the snack is prepared and sadly still all spaced out, as the door starts gradually ringing and there are the parents coming to collect them, and they, with long, sad faces, already wondering when we will see each other again. I am proud of all of them: they are pure energy and show boundless, almost disarming imagination. The thirteen skilled artists, within the Pandora Association are privileged members, involved in all our activities: in exhibitions, at events, workshops, outings etc. Their educational experience is often enriched with the presence of some of Pandora's artists, even foreign ones, such as the case of the Iranian Dorna Abiak, or with courses on different techniques with Loredana Avagliano, Elvira Peduto, Claudia Altavilla, Rosa Tipaldi, Maria Luisa Aiello, Francesca Nardino, etc; which we will resume as soon as the pandemic gives some respite. A path not only therapeutic, but also educational, recreational, of true integration, able to give participants the opportunity to tell their stories through art, to have fun and socialize. A project methodology that is also being extended among some of the association's members in various Italian cities (e.g. Elisa Simonelli in Milan and Alessandra Di Marco in Rome). In 2019 with my boys we had started a project both in local schools and in our workshop, where they were the real protagonists and taught normal children; a very rewarding and concrete project of their autonomy and self-esteem, which made them stronger and proud of their know-how. Fortunately, their work is now known and appreciated by all and there are so many people who follow them, competing to have their work. In this way they contribute to their education and enable them to be able to buy ceramic materials, which are known to be quite expensive. Pandora Ability is a very rewarding but above all a very concrete project, which stimulates autonomy and self-esteem, making the participants stronger and prouder of their know-how.
My goal is to be able to have economic supports and create a cooperative, a large workshop, in order to see them finally realize their aspirations and fulfill their parents' expectations, because dreams, you know, have no handicap. It is important to make them in the future happier and more autonomous than they are today, increasing their abilities more and more concretely and also give them the chance to lead an independent life.