"They can actually be put outside," advises Tom di Maria, executive director of the Creative Growth Art Center. "It's like making a jigsaw puzzle."

The stepping stones are just one of the art objects in Creative Growth's annual Home Show, which features art for and about home. Painted drinking glasses and salt and pepper shakers, rugs, clocks, CD cabinets, silk pillows, scarves and jackets are on display and for sale. Paintings interpret the theme of home.

Many of the pieces are colorful and bold. Almost all have a fresh perspective. The artists are adults with physical, mental or emotional disabilities. For 32 years, Creative Growth has developed the artistic skills and expression of people with disabilities. Professional artists work with disabled artists. Di Maria explains they work to have an artist-to-artist rather than teacher-to-student relationship. Currently, 138 disabled artists come to the center.

In the spacious studio adjacent to the gallery, artists are grouped according to the medium they work in. At the painting table, Cedric Johnson works on a complex, colorful silk painting of a woman with a snake and a man with a sword. He paints carefully. When he finishes a section, he studies the paint chart for the next color he wants. He points to Brazil green.

"I want that for the snake," he says. He estimates it will take him a few days to complete the painting.

At the drawing table, William Scott works on an intricate black-and-white drawing of several high-rises. He is using an aerial photograph of Bay View Hunters Point, where he lives, as his starting point. The piece has so much detail, you wouldn't imagine he had just started it two hours earlier.

"He's a precise and fast drawer," di Maria comments. Scott also creates sculptures of women, inspired by the women at his church.

The room is large and full of people, but it isn't noisy. The artists are deeply engaged in their work. Some have emerged as serious artists, forcing a re-examination of the creative process.

"Right Here Right Now," a book about Creative Growth artist Donald Mitchell, explores his journey in developing a unique minimalist drawing style. The figures he draws are indistinguishable and usually arranged in rows. A curator analyzing his work says the presentation forces the viewer into an endless visual exile.

"(F)or Mitchell, as for Monet, art is the solution, not the problem, a way of being who he is and seeing what he sees," explains an expert in folk art.

When the work of Creative Growth's artists is not as "serious" as Mitchell's, it has a refreshing whimsy and imagination. Back at the Home Show exhibit, artists created puppets that were used to make videos for "Baker's Dozen, 14 puppet vignettes."

Alex Schwitalia's puppet says, "I think I hear someone getting into trouble," then turns into a superhero who flies over Chocolate City and through the clouds as superhero music plays. Schwitalia built numerous buildings to create the cityscape.

In "The Birds of San Francisco Bay Area," Gina Damerell's bird puppet sits in its nest, turning its head in the direction of the sound of a plane. A smaller bird pops up from the nest. They both look around for the source of the plane sound and then directly at the camera as the clip ends.

In "Cruise Ship" by William Tyler, viewers see an outside shot of a ship and then move inside, where a puppet looks at the sea through the porthole. "There's a lot of water out there. I don't like to swim. I'll keep my clothes on," the puppet says.

The work of Creative Growth artists touches you in unexpected ways.

The Home Show is at Creative Growth Art Center, 355 24th St., Oakland, through July 8. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit creativegrowth.org.

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