Through Art Breaks In, the field is learning what justice can look like when culturally specific creativity leads.
Our History
Drawing on decades of experience working with traditional artists and cultural communities across California, ACTA continues to refine and expand its approach to traditional arts in systems-impacted settings.
ACTA first brought traditional arts programming into correctional institutions in 2013 through the Arts in Corrections program funded by the California Arts Council. We have grown from operating within a single facility (California State Prison in Corcoran) to implementing traditional arts programming in 18 institutions throughout California.
We expanded our programming to support justice-impacted people during reentry in 2019 — and in 2025, unveiled our new program name: Art Breaks In, uniting ACTA’s long-running work in corrections, reentry, and CARES programs with funding directly from CDCR.
Inspired by a participant who said,
People shouldn’t be worried about anyone breaking out—they should be thinking about the arts breaking in,”
this name captures the heart of our work in systems-impacted communities.
Meet the Teaching Artists
The Teaching Artists of ACTA’s Art Breaks In program are cultural bearers—musicians, storytellers, drummers, dancers, and visual artists—who bring the traditions of their communities into correctional and reentry spaces. Our classes become circles of creativity, healing, and cultural continuity, giving participants the opportunity to rediscover their identity, voice, and connection through art.
Together, ACTA’s Teaching Artists embody the belief that culture heals, connects, and transforms. Through their artistry, incarcerated and reentry participants become students, collaborators, and cultural leaders in their own right.
Click on each photo below to learn more about the artists, and go here to explore all Art Breaks In artists.
Teaching Artists created individual mini-documentaries about their journeys and traditional arts practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, which first aired inside California state prisons. Watch the entire series, “Engaging Tradition,” here.
Explore the Work
Step inside the creative world of Art Breaks In, where rhythm, song, story, and images move freely between prison walls and community spaces. This virtual gallery invites visitors to experience the work directly by listening, watching, and reading alongside participants and Teaching Artists. Explore collective projects, original compositions, and artworks created through years of traditional arts practice across California’s correctional and reentry programs. Each piece reflects a moment of creativity, collaboration, and transformation—an art practice that breaks in, not out.
From demonstrating the power of community connections to using rhythm to heal trauma, this workbook walks you through several courses designed to build a culturally sustainable process that deconstructs the oppressive systems that harm us.
Whether it’s using collective songwriting to build community or restorative art to make personal connections, this workbook shares the transformative role that traditional art plays in self-determination for ourselves and our communities.
“I’m writing this letter to inform you of the Djembe drumming class at Valley State Prison has been helpful in my rehabilitation. Mr. Tounkara has so much personality that gives us positive learning and his knowledge of the culture is very insightful. Not only instructing us on the history of drumming and understanding music counts along with hand technique; the course is theraputic in so many ways. The unison of inmates playing the drum temporarily takes me away from the negative energy I’m surrounded by. I’ve also learned breathing techniques from this class that has led me to positive theraputic ways. Thank you for your involvement in the prison system, it is much appreciated.”
Hear Directly from Art Breaks In Participants
Go behind-the-scenes at California Correctional Institution (CCI) in Tehachapi to hear how art and music provide a pathway towards positive transformation and mental health.
Learn how the shared space of art-making in the context of incarceration has affected the students and the teachers, reminding us all of our connections to one another in the face of isolation.
View more of our videos on our Art Breaks In YouTube Playlist.
Listen to stories from inside the prison from Radio Bilingüe’s series on Arts in Corrections, available in English and Spanish here.
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Read More about our Program Through the Years
2025 ACTA’s REDEEMED Exhibition
2025 Justice Art Jam 2025
2025 Announcing the renaming of Art Breaks In
2019 Reentry Through the Arts Culminating Celebration
2017 NY Times feature No Licence Plates Here: Using Art to Transcend Walls
2017 Merced Sun Star Inmates in Valley State Prison learn traditional arts for therapy
Funders
ACTA’s Arts in Corrections program is funded by the California Arts Council and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
