Cre-Arte was born in 1995, with the purpose of designing integrated care programs for people with disabilities. 

As a first step, a Cultural Educational Center was created focused on children over 16 years old who need special assistance, trying to cover a service segment which is not attended by Social or Educational programs run by the State. This Cultural Institution works on a non formal education project fostering the development of different capacities and possibilities that people with disabilities have. Throughout this project, Cre-Arte encourages new ways of learning through the development of skills on people with disabilities. At the same time, these learning programs strengthen their self-esteem and appreciate the person for a social placement. Cre-Arte considers Art as a potential tool for human development, because it believes that every human being can make art when converting objects, changing his or her reality and transforming his or her possibilities to communicate, being involved in a designing process. This creative process is inherent to human being and does not depend on the biological capacities of individual abilities.

In 1996, just by a year of operation, the association was declared of District interest, due to its community service. Then, in 1998 the same Award was given to Cre-Arte by Rio Negro City.

One of the peculiar features of this association is given by its structure. Although, there is a board of directors at the Institution, every decision or idea is discussed and then, every action which will take effect is shared. Every decision which involves Cre-Arte´s policies or philosophy, is analyzed between all the staff which is involved in the Institution, no matter which job position each have, the aim is to achieve a general consent.

During three years, most of the activities of the institution took place at a house where it had a room of around 18m2, a second one of 6m2, a kitchen and a bathroom. This place was donated by a Church called Virgen del Carmen in Bariloche. At the beginning, only 5 adults with disabilities attended the Center, and then it grew up to 30, so there wasn’t enough room for the incoming demand of the population.

In 1998 Cre- Arte receives a headquarters where it actually works (Quaglia Street 540) that was given as a concession up to 2008.

On one hand, the possibilities of attending these programs that brought these new building, allowed a development and also an enlargement to improve the quality of assistance offering the pupils the opportunity to work in more than 20 workshops. On the other hand, aims turned up to be bigger, challenging the opportunity to introduce Art to more young people. Moreover, since 1999, gardening activities started up and these brought an outcome of around 5000 of new plants, indoor plants and orchard plants. This production increases year after year thanks to the training the students receive every day.

Since 2000, due to the difficult economic situation the students´ families were going through, soup kitchens were opened so as to meet food needs of 70% of the people that attended Cre-Arte. Actually these people don’t have medical insurance and almost all of them live under the poverty line.

Nowadays, Cre-Arte assists 72 persons with disabilities. Age ranges from 16 to 52 years old, and the average is 23. The highest percentage of the population that attends Cre-Arte are people with a mental moderate disability.
People with auditory and motor skills disabilities also participate at Cre-Arte.

During all these working years, students and teachers from Cre-Arte have been distinguished in many contests, winning, local, national and international awards.