(640) 229-3200 Jwood@CreatAbilityUS.org DDD Approved Vendor · New Jersey
CreatAbility: enhancing all abilities through the arts
Five CreatAbility students standing side by side on stage with one arm raised in the air, laughing at the end of a scene.

Improv & creative arts · New Jersey

Say yes, and see what happens: improv classes for people with disabilities in New Jersey.

Improv classes for people with autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, ADHD and anxiety, and for anyone seeking to improve their social and communication skills. The method is improvisational theater technique, in an energized, fun, nonjudgmental atmosphere where we make each other laugh.

My budget pays for services I’m paying my own way

Not sure which one you are? Call (640) 229-3200 and we will sort it out with you.

Start here

Three ways people arrive at our door

Pick the one that sounds like you. Everything on the other side is written in your language, for your situation.

“Is this covered by his budget?”

Families using DDD funding

CreatAbility is an approved vendor with the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities. Classes can be paid through an Individual Supports Budget, with nothing out of pocket.

How DDD funding works here

“How much, and when does the next one start?”

Adults enrolling on their own

If meetings or social gatherings make you freeze up, or small talk feels like a foreign language, this room is for you too. Prices and start dates are on the page, and you can sign up without a referral from anyone.

See classes and prices

“Send me something I can forward.”

Support coordinators

One page with everything you need to put us in a service plan: vendor details, service codes, what we actually deliver, and a referral form that takes two minutes.

Open the coordinator page

What a class is actually like

There is no script. That is the whole point.

An improv scene has one rule: you accept what the other person gives you, and you add to it. “Yes, and.” It sounds like a game because it is one. It is also a mindset, leading to what a conversation truly should be.

  • Warm-ups first. Everyone on their feet, being open to breaking down barriers, and yes, feeling a little silly. This leads to bravery in the room.
  • Short scenes in pairs and small groups. You get a suggestion, you start, you find out where it goes.
  • Practice at the thing that is hard. Starting a conversation. Reading a face. Taking a turn. Recovering when you lose the thread.
  • No one is corrected in front of the room. There is no wrong answer in improv. That is not a slogan here, it is the mechanic.
  • Staff who have done this a long time. Trained actors and teachers, not a volunteer with a worksheet.
See the classes Watch a class first
Four CreatAbility participants standing in a loose circle mid-scene in a bright community room, listening to the person who is speaking.
A scene in progress. Four people, one suggestion, no script.
“Yes, and…”No wrong answersA DDD approved vendorNobody sits outImprov since 2018On Zoom and in personSix days a weekCome watch a class first

This is the room

Not a stock photo of actors. These are our students.

Two CreatAbility participants standing side by side in the studio, both grinning. Two CreatAbility students standing together in the studio, smiling at the camera. Two CreatAbility participants working together at a table in the studio by a sunny window.

In their words

What families and students say

“The love, humor and insight that Jody and Lucy, and all their staff show for our children and adults with disabilities is consistent and constant.”

Joanne and Jesse W. · Parent and student

“This is an amazing, fun part of my life. I have grown a lot as a person through the skills that I have learned in the class.”

Michael A. · Student

“To state that it is the most favorite day of the week for my son when he has his class, would be an understatement.”

Kim V. · Parent

Who belongs here

Everyone in this room is here to get better at the same thing.

We work with people who have autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, ADHD, and mental health challenges. We also work with people who have none of those and simply freeze up when it is their turn to talk.

That is not us being loose with who we serve. It is the design. A room where the funded student and the paying student are doing the same exercise, side by side, is a better room than one where everybody has the same label.

Ages we serve

Right now we work with people 21 and older. Programs for people under 21 are being put together and will be announced here.

A mosaic of dozens of photographs from CreatAbility classes, performances and gatherings over the years.
Years of classes, shows, holiday parties and Tuesday nights.
2018

Founded by Jody Wood as SKIT, now CreatAbility, Inc., a New Jersey nonprofit.

DDD

An approved vendor with the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities.

2 ways

Pay through an Individual Supports Budget, or enroll and pay on your own.

For support coordinators

You need something you can forward without rewriting it.

One page: who we are, what we deliver, how it lands in a service plan, and a two-minute referral form. Print it, attach it, or send the link.

Open the coordinator page

Talk to a person

The fastest way in is a phone call.

Tell us where you are, who the class is for, and how it would be paid for. If we are not the right fit, we will tell you that too.

Call (640) 229-3200 Email us

Prefer to just watch first? Say so. Sitting in on a class before you commit is perfectly acceptable here.

Ask us anything