Nearly 100 artists with disabilities are showing their work in "Representing Unity," a new exhibit filling Hunneman Hall at the Public Library of Brookline through Aug. 31.

The show features artists from Vinfen's Gateway Arts program, announced by library reference head Jessica Steytler. Gateway Arts, based just steps away on Station Street, is New England's largest studio center for artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental health diagnoses, brain injuries and other neurodiverse conditions — with artists ranging in age from 21 to 80.

The exhibit's lead image is an untitled acrylic-on-muslin painting by Sidney Perry, one of Gateway's longest-serving artists, who has worked in the studio since it first opened as Gateway Crafts back in 1973 — more than 50 years of showing up to create.

Gateway Arts director Gregory Liakos has described the program's mission simply: "When we're here, we focus not on the disability, but on what they can accomplish as artists," he told the State House News Service at the program's new building ribbon-cutting last year.

That building, on Station Street, opened in July 2025 and more than doubled Gateway's ground-floor space while improving accessibility for artists in wheelchairs or with limited mobility — moving from its longtime Harvard Street location into what's now an arts hub just steps from the Brookline Village library branch hosting this very exhibit.

Most are referred through the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, with others coming via the Department of Mental Health, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, or MassAbility. Artists work one to five days a week and earn a 50% commission on every original piece sold through the Gateway store and gallery — real income for real work, not just a hobby.

See it for yourself.

"Representing Unity" runs through Aug. 31 at Hunneman Hall, open during regular library hours. The Gateway Arts Store and Gallery at 15 Station St. also sells original artwork, jewelry, clothing and greeting cards made by Gateway artists year-round.