Designer Guides Young Artists To Creative Careers

Emeryville (CBS 5) ― "The simpler, the better," Maurice Woods tells his sixth, seventh, and eighth grade design students as they tackle an assignment to draw a symbol.

"I want my students to come into class and get a sense of what designers do," Maurice explains.

Maurice introduces kids to graphic design with free classes through a program he designed called the Inneract Project.

"It's really about you guys coming up with something creative in a short time," he tells the kids.

And that's how his program started. The six-foot-ten Richmond native played basketball for international teams, but realized he wouldn't make it into the NBA.

He remembers, "I'd been playing basketball for so long, it was a part of who I was. I didn't have another plan."

So he and his mother searched his college catalog. "And I will never forget this. We were flipping through it. My mother found it. She was like, 'This is graphic design. You used to like to draw when you were younger. You should try it!'" Maurice explains.

He liked it, then shared it. While in college, he founded the Inneract Project in Seattle in 2004. When he took a Bay Area job as a graphic designer, he brought the program to Expression College in Emeryville and San Francisco's Academy of Art University in 2008. The goal: to give inner city middle school kids graphic design opportunities he didn't have.

"They're exposed to a program that's free. All they got to do is show up to the class," Maurice says.

Maurice recruited dozens of professional designers and architects who volunteer teaching fall, spring, and summer classes.

Mark Brown's 12-year-old son Alex is gaining confidence in his artwork.

"Whether someone likes them or not, they're still confident enough to put it out there," Mark says.

Students Jessica Weiss and Leon Xu say they realize the importance of graphic design. Now, they're drawn to the career.

"I was really surprised actually because most signage someone had to design it," Jessica explains. "I just thought, oh, someone wrote this sign, someone wrote that sign. No. It had to be designed."

Leon adds, "After this class, it really turned me on. Oh, this is so cool. I want to do that now."

The classes show David Leong what's possible for his 13-year-old daughter Taylor.

"There's always the thought of the starving artist. How you're going to make a living?" David says. "But he's shown kids and parents that this is a worthy profession."

"It makes me feel really good to see that the kids are getting it and they're seeing value in what I'm doing," Maurice says.

So for inspiring hundreds of children with free graphic design classes, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Maurice Woods.

By Sharon Chin

Related Link:

* Inneract Project: more information and gallery of student work

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)