“I trust art a great deal as a tool for healing. Exposing people with disabilities to art lets them explore a very positive world where you can give free rein to your imagination and your dreams.”
The Mazatlán-born artist shares how childhood pain, his mother’s generosity and a move to Los Angeles shaped his commitment to art and accessibility.
Michael Dergar was a child, a dreamer, who imagined stories he could create to become a better person and help others.
“I would climb up to the roof of our house. I considered myself an old man; I must have been about seven. It was night, and I imagined that other life. I let it all out; I helped others,” says Dergar, a visual artist and philanthropist originally from Mazatlán, Mexico. He is the founder of the Academy of Special Dream Foundation, La Arts, and other artistic ventures that connect people with disabilities to art.
He has worked for the City of Pasadena and the Alhambra Unified School District. Dergar has developed a career that combines artistic expression with a commitment to social inclusion.
As a visual artist, Dergar is known for colorful, textured paintings that reflect his interest in visual expression and creativity. Through his artistic practice, he has sought to contribute to the cultural landscape while encouraging broader appreciation for artists whose work may be overlooked by traditional art institutions.
The impulse to help, he says, began at home.
“I learned it at home, from my family. We lived in a poor neighborhood of Mazatlán, near the train tracks. Many people with no resources were waiting for their next trip, with nothing, and my mother opened the doors to them and gave them food. We did not have much, but we gave everything,” recalls this artist who lives in Los Angeles.
His work has taken him to carry out charitable work in several states of Mexico. Every year he makes a point of bringing wheelchairs that he donates to people in need in that country, provides scholarships, and brings them closer to the world of art, which he sees as a relationship of healing.
It was not always like this. Every story has a past, with earlier chapters behind it.
“I had a happy childhood, but at age seven I began to have physical problems. I could not walk. I remember that while I was at school, I simply fainted. I could not walk. Happiness back then was being out on the street playing with friends, but suddenly everything vanished. They told me I needed to be stronger, that my legs were very weak, that I needed to grow. But in the meantime, the pain was unbearable, and I had to live with it. My mother tried home remedies, but it did not go away. I could not take physical education classes; I did not take part in sports teams; they always chose me last. I was the one who could not run. That is where I began to experience discrimination, without knowing it, and that spirit of advocating for those most in need began to grow,” adds this Mexican artist.
This did not stop him from trying to move forward, despite everything. He began working at whatever he could, and he always had an entrepreneurial spirit. He helped at a bakery, sold products door to door, and did whatever else he could. He had to contribute to the household expenses. Despite living in a beach town, he never went to the beach.
In addition to his entrepreneurial spirit, he had a passion for education. He knew he would become an educator. It was part of the service-oriented personality that sustains his work and his service to the community.
A first cousin had migrated to Los Angeles, so he always knew that was an opportunity open to him. Without confessing his intentions to his mother, one day he began processing his visa. He simply said he would visit a relative, nothing more. Deep down, he knew he would seek to continue his studies in education in California. He had been told that bilingual teachers were needed, and he would find other paths.
“I went to Hermosillo for my visa. I had saved everything I could, about 400 dollars. Surprisingly, I started to feel better. I could walk and be more physically active. They gave me the visa, and I traveled to Tijuana for my crossing. I had relatives who received me, and I entrusted my 400 dollars to one of them, but I never saw it again. It was a great disappointment. I was left with nothing. In the end, I crossed with $19 and all my ambitions and dreams, nothing more. I knew I had made the right decision. I had to fight. I was 20 years old,” he adds.
He kept studying and working here and there. He knew he had to fight very hard. He spent time working in radio, film, marketing, production, and other activities. He never gave up.
After working for the City of Pasadena and the AlhambraUnified School District, he knew he had the foundation to pursue other things. He decided to open his foundation and promote inclusion in other spaces.
“In 2009 we established the academy’s mission, and in 2010 we began working. I have been invited to different events and exhibitions. I was not used to showing my work, but now I use it as a tool to advance my goals. Everywhere I go, I make sure the venue has accessibility for people with disabilities, and if it does not, I work with them to build it. We have to give opportunity and accessibility to this segment of the population. In 2018, I made a trip to Mazatlán with 35 wheelchairs. I was not clear on whom to donate them to, and finally I met another artist who helped me, and we established this mission that takes us there every year. I do it around Thanksgiving. This has connected me with the city that watched me grow up, which I never forget and try to help,” says the philanthropist.
Tell me about it, since I started mine on the rooftop of my house, watching the stars, watching my dreams. That is also the mission of art,” he concludes.
