Tale of 2+2 Artists – Inspire Arts foursome add creativity to injury

•​ Four ​Talented​ ​Artists ​Share Distressing and​ ​​Redemptive TBI ​Stories

By Bruce William Deckert

Editor-in-Chief • Today Magazine Online

Adding insult to injury — what’s your take on the meaning of this familiar saying? One translation: to make a bad situation worse. Yet many true-life redemption stories indicate the opposite is possible — that a harmful circumstance can be turned around and transformed for a good purpose.

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The artists connected to Inspire Arts are the inspiration for a refreshing revision of the add-insult-to-injury saying — these artists are adding creativity to injury to forge a constructive path forward after suffering a traumatic brain injury.

The Inspire Arts initiative is a unique offering of The Supported Living Group, a private social-service agency that provides nonmedical community-based support services for clients who are navigating the challenges of autism, aging in the community, and life after a traumatic brain injury (or TBI). Based in Connecticut, The Supported Living Group (aka SLG) is headquartered in Danielson and has two other sites in Avon and Bethany, the dual locations where the arts program exists. Rebecca Maloney, the Inspire Arts senior manager, guides this distinctive enterprise from the Avon venue.

The specific focus of Inspire Arts is to help TBI survivors leverage creative expression as a key component of recovery while encouraging pursuit of the arts as a life calling.

Traumatic brain injuries occur in a variety of catastrophic ways — such as motor-vehicle accidents, military combat, severe strokes, sports mishaps, tragic falls or violent assaults.

About 35 artists with TBIs have participated in the collaborative Inspire Arts adventure since SLG executive director Jamie Arber established the program in March 2021 — 20 currently, 12 in Avon and eight in Bethany.

Today Magazine Online spoke with four of these talented artists, two men and two women, to learn about their respective life journeys that have converged at Inspire Arts in the heart of Connecticut's Farmington Valley.

Following are brief snapshots of the life stories of our four featured artists:

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• Grace Thriving Under Pressure

• Name of Artist — Grace Miller-Kaggwa • Artwork Samples

• Primary Artistic Mediums — Mosaic • Needlework • Paint

• Age — 57

• Hometown: place of origin — Kingston • Jamaica

• Hometown: today — New Britain • Connecticut

• Arrival Year as Client at Supported Living Group — 2017

• Cause of Traumatic Brain Injury — Stroke

When Grace Miller-Kaggwa was only 41 years old, she suffered a brain aneurysm and stroke. She celebrated her 57th birthday in June.

Grace grew up in Jamaica and graduated from Meadowbrook High School in Kingston, the country’s capital city. When she came to the United States in her early 20s, she lived in New York City — specifically, the borough of Queens — before moving to Connecticut.

An island nation in the Caribbean Sea south of Cuba, Jamaica measures about 4400 square miles — by comparison, the country is slightly smaller than Connecticut (about 5500 square miles).

Grace began producing artwork via Inspire Arts in 2021 — she didn't paint or otherwise pursue artistic endeavors when she was growing up or as a younger adult. As a result of the stroke, Grace has to deal with paralysis on her right side, so she uses her left hand to display impressive creativity. Her exquisite mosaic pieces have featured Barack and Michelle Obama, legendary South Africa president Nelson Mandela, and Jamaican sprint superstars Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price.

She received an award in the Art For Healing exhibition at Hartford-based 224 EcoSpace in July 2024 — according to a post on the organization’s Facebook page, "her stunning piece titled Blessings ... beautifully captures the essence of knowledge and learning."

"She is determined to live life to the fullest — her journey through art has become a vital part of her recovery" —Tammy Hendricks regarding her mom Grace

In addition to hemiparalysis, Grace experiences expressive aphasia, a language disorder related to brain damage that results in difficulty forming words, speaking and/or writing.

Asked about the value of Inspire Arts and what the program has done for her, she answers simply and emphatically: "Oh my God, spectacular — yes!"

Speaking of God, Grace believes that a divine Creator is the source of human creativity and the inspiration for her artwork: "God is the greatest," she says.

As an integral aspect of her upbringing in Jamaica, Grace attended church with her mother. In the face of the significant medical challenges she has endured, she still affirms: "God is good — all the time."

Grace lives in New Britain with her daughter Genny, whose full first name is Genesis. Genny is the youngest of Grace's three children — all three were born in Connecticut. Her son Steven is the middle child, and her daughter Tammy is the oldest.

Tammy Hendricks is a graduate of the UConn School of Business, and she has received some high-level honors:

• 40 Under Forty award: Hartford Business Journal

• Top 25 Women in Business award: Hartford Business Journal

• 40 Under 40 award: Connecticut Magazine

• 100 Women of Color award

• Top 100 Under 50 Executive & Emerging Leaders award:

Diversity MBA Magazine

Tammy is the director of health equity and outreach for Access Health CT. Now in her mid-30s, she was 19 years old and a UConn sophomore when her mom suffered the stroke.

"This led to a challenging journey of recovery for her that included relearning how to walk, eat and perform basic daily tasks," Tammy says via the Inspire Arts website. "I left college to care for her, embarking on a nearly three-year journey to help [her] through a coma and extensive rehabilitation."

Tammy notes that Inspire Arts has played a profound role in her mom's life.

"She is determined to live life to the fullest," Tammy says. "Her journey through art has become a vital part of her recovery, inspiring not only to her family but also those who view her work." +

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• Jack of Multiple Sports — and Art 

• Name of Artist — John Micali • Artwork Samples 

• Primary Artistic Medium — Paint 

• Age — 54 

• Hometown: place of origin — Newington • Connecticut 

• Hometown: today — Newington 

• Arrival Year as Client at Supported Living Group — 2017 

• Cause of Traumatic Brain Injury — Motor-Vehicle Accident 

John Micali suffered a TBI in August 1998 while driving his pickup truck: "It had just rained — it hadn't rained in weeks," he says. 

The combination of slick road conditions and vehicle speed resulted in his truck sliding off a roadway near Interstate 84. The ensuing one-vehicle accident left him in a coma for six months. 

John describes the woman who helped him after the crash as his "guardian angel" — she was an employee at Hartford-based Saint Francis Hospital, where he was initially transported. Soon after he was moved to the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain. 

More than a quarter-century after a high-impact collision tragically changed the trajectory of his life, the constructive impact of Inspire Arts has likewise been dramatic and life-changing. 

"This place is awesome," John affirms. "I never knew I had a talent for painting — I would be stuck at home doing nothing." 

He started producing artwork when Inspire Arts debuted four-plus years ago. To date, his creative output has emphasized nautical motifs. As a young adult, the main art he focused on was "the art of picking up women," he quips — "I was cocky back in the day." 

Before the Supported Living Group established Inspire Arts in March 2021, John’s daily duties centered on office tasks and paperwork after he became an SLG client at the Avon location in 2017. 

"This program has opened my mind," John says. "I can do whatever I want with it." He notes that an additional practical bonus has been the opportunity to "make some money." 

While the starving-artist phenomenon can affect those who pursue creative work as a vocation, art pursued as an avocation is evidently a different story. 

"This place is awesome — I never knew I had a talent for painting" — John Micali

After he emerged from his post-accident coma in early 1999, John was relegated to a wheelchair for everyday ambulation: "I was really angry for a while," he recalls. "I was mad at the world." At other times, he says, the tears would flow. 

Over time, via rehab and physical therapy, he regained regular mobility and the ability to walk unassisted. His family and friends have been key components of his recovery — "I've had plenty of support," he says. 

"My family stuck by my side when I was in the hospital. They pushed me — I don't want to let them down. My father would come in and do therapy with me — my family is the best, and my friends have been there since day one. I still see my high school football buddies and my college buddies. We get together once a month, the ones who don't have kids." 

Born and raised in Connecticut, John is a 1989 graduate of Newington High School. He was a three-sport athlete: baseball in 9th grade, lacrosse in 12th grade and football all four years. John also joined the cheerleading squad his senior year — he was one of the strong young men who "threw the girl cheerleaders up in the air," he explains. 

He attended Tunxis Community College — now part of the rebranded CT State system — for three semesters. His sister and brother graduated from Newington High too, in 1991 and 1993. 

John's mom died young, another cancer victim, shortly before he graduated from Newington High in 1989. These days his dad lives in East Lyme, just west of New London on the Connecticut coast, about 50 miles southeast of both Newington and Hartford. 

Regarding the source of art and creativity, does John believe in a Creator? 

"I think that comes from within," he says. "Art has to be something you like to do — you gotta like what you're doing." 

Regarding the atheistic belief that assumes the universe happened by chance — isn't a more likely scenario that God exists?

"There's a reason why everything happens," says John, who turns 55 in November. "Everything happens for a reason — I'm not sure why it happens, but there's a reason." 

Regarding the inspiration for his artwork, John returns to the kinship theme: "I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have my family and friends to stand by my side." + 

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• Creative Hooray For LaRey 

• Name of Artist — LaRey Pablo • Artwork Samples 

• Primary Artistic Mediums — Collage • Paint 

• Age — 48 

• Hometown: place of origin — Pomona • California 

• Hometown: today — Bristol • Connecticut

• Arrival Year as Client at Supported Living Group — 2017 

• Cause of Traumatic Brain Injury — Stroke 

LaRey Pablo sustained a TBI when she suffered a stroke as a 25-year-old. At the time, she was living in Canaan — a town in northwest Connecticut nearly 20 miles west of Winsted — but the precursor of the stroke occurred during a multitasking trip to North Carolina. 

"I was on vacation in Carolina visiting family," she says. "While I was there I applied and interviewed for a job, and I got the job." 

During the visit she developed a migraine-level headache and was prescribed medication, but after she drove back to her Canaan home the migraine was still severe. 

"My children were upstairs with my grandma," LaRey says. "I went to sleep, and when my alarm rang I tried to turn the alarm off but couldn't move my arm, and I couldn't speak — I had a stroke while I was sleeping. I shimmied off the bed and onto the floor, and then my daughter TakHia saw me and went to get my Nana." 

LaRey lost consciousness and was in a coma for over a month, and she spent seven months in the New Britain-based Hospital for Special Care. 

"Nana became my conservator, and I had to start all over with walking and talking," LaRey explains. "I was supposed to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life." 

That doctor’s medical prediction has proven to be untrue — LaRey Pablo walks just fine on her own, thank you. 

She was born in Southern California and initially raised in Pomona, a city situated about 30 miles east of Los Angeles with approximately 150,000 residents. By the time she began high school, her family had moved to Connecticut — Canaan specifically. She graduated from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, a distinct section of Canaan. Today, she lives in Bristol. 

Asked when she started producing artwork, LaRey replies: "I've always drawn" — as she grew up, she utilized drawing books and took art classes in school. 

By the way, if you're wondering about the difference between drawing and painting, art aficionados typically distinguish between these two foundational creative disciplines as follows: 

• Drawing is performed on paper when an artist utilizes dry-art media like pencils, pens or charcoal. 

• Painting is performed on canvas, paper or wood when an artist utilizes wet-art media like acrylic or oil or watercolor paint. 

"I love Inspire Arts — it’s been really good because I love art, and this is really like a family" — LaRey Pablo

LaRey relays a quasi-humorous anecdote about her early drawing antics: "When I was 2, or maybe 3, I was drawing on the wall at my grandma's house," she recalls.

Her grandmother's reaction? Perhaps you can guess — and chances are your guess won't need to be wild to be spot-on.

"My grandma wasn't cool with it," LaRey says, "because I was told: Now we have to go and get paint — and then: We're gonna get you some pen and crayons and you can draw with them." 

The list of new art supplies for toddler LaRey contained one more item that is foreign in the digital-news realm, yet absolutely essential for an old-school newspaper. 

"My grandma got me a big roll of newsprint," LaRey says, "so I could be drawing for a long time." 

Two pieces of evidence point to the ongoing success of her grandmother's creative wall-saving solution: 

• First, LaRey's subsequent achievement as an artist — for example, as a teenager her handiwork was displayed at Housatonic Valley Regional HS and at another Falls Village venue. More recently, she was invited to exhibit a collage at the prestigious Outsider Artist Fair in New York City in March 2024. In December 2024, LaRey and Inspire Arts manager Rebecca Maloney appeared on NPR's Where We Live, a podcast produced by Connecticut Public Radio. 

• Second, an online observer can visit the Inspire Arts website and verify that no other walls have been utilized in the artwork visible on LaRey's webpage. 

However, upon further review, painting on walls is actually a time-honored endeavor — such a painting is called a mural. In this light, LaRey confesses to another wall-related artwork: Many years after her oblivious childhood wall-art transgression, she painted a mural of Mickey Mouse on her daughter TaKhia's bedroom wall. 

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LaRey has two children: TaKhia is now 28 years old and younger daughter Naomi is 23. Regarding her family of origin, from age 5 LaRey was raised by her grandmother Josephine — and affectionately calls her Nana. Josephine is the mother of LaRey's mom. 

"My mom was a teenager when she had me," LaRey explains. "She was negligent." 

LaRey’s artistic mediums are diverse and eclectic: collage, clay, mosaic, paint, sculpture and woodwork. As a stroke survivor, she endures hemiparalysis — that is, partial paralysis on one side of the body — and therefore paints with her left hand. 

The inspirations for her art are likewise wide-ranging: from the animal world (owls, tigers, turtles and more) to the human music world (the Beatles, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix) to the fantasy book world (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia). 

"I go to the internet and look for people that I like, and put music on and just go for it," she says of her artistic process. 

How has this noteworthy SLG program helped her since she signed up in March 2021? 

"I love Inspire Arts,” LaRey affirms. “It’s been really good because I love art, and this is really like a family." 

Regarding the source of art and human creativity, she says: "I believe in a higher Spirit, a higher power — every day I do the Bible … I read a Bible app on my phone." 

Her TBI journey has presented some peculiar and heartbreaking challenges, yet LaRey can see glimpses of God’s care and plan: "He veered me onto another path," she observes. "He directed me into artwork." + 

• Editor's Note 

• Circling back to the location of LaRey's Connecticut high school: Housatonic Valley Regional HS is in both Canaan and Falls Village — and yes, the address of this secondary school presents a potential riddle. 

• In everyday discussion, someone could easily suppose that Falls Village and Canaan are different towns. However, the village is considered a distinct section of the larger town of Canaan — but because Falls Village is regarded as the heart of this municipality, Falls Village is also synonymous with Canaan overall, according to various sources. 

• Another town name adds to the potential confusion: New Canaan is located in southwest Connecticut, in the New York City metropolitan area. Canaan and Falls Village are in northwest Connecticut.

• Confusing? Yes, yet such puzzling nomenclature is common enough for municipalities in the Constitution State. 

• Examples of this bewildering town-name game abound in Connecticut's Farmington Valley: North Granby and West Granby are distinct sections of the town of Granby, while East Granby is a separate municipality. Collinsville is not a distinct town but is actually part of Canton — the same is true of Tariffville and Simsbury as well as Unionville and Farmington. Slightly west of the Valley, yet part of the Farmington River watershed, the villages of Pleasant Valley and Riverton are not separate towns — instead, they are part of Barkhamsted ... and the list could surely continue. + 

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• His Slow Innovation Fits The Bill

• Name of Artist — Bill Streeter • Artwork Samples

• Primary Artistic Mediums — Paint • Woodwork

• Age — 55

• Hometown: place of origin — Frankfort • New York

• Hometown: today — Bristol • Connecticut

• Arrival Year as Client at Supported Living Group — 2024

• Cause of Traumatic Brain Injury — Fall

How often have you walked up or down a flight of stairs? Safe to say, navigating stairs in a multistory building is a commonplace maneuver that can easily be taken too lightly — and can become unsafe in a nanosecond.

Bill Streeter's TBI occurred in July 2023 while he was walking downstairs to the basement of his home in Utica, New York — he was working remotely for Bank of America and carrying a company laptop computer when he fell.

"I slipped and hit my head on a cement wall," he says. "My daughter found me unconscious."

When he regained consciousness, he was initially beset by short-term memory loss: "I've been told I didn't recognize my wife, but I still had memories of when our daughter was born and when we got married. ... I had no problem remembering what happened when I was little. Later, my short-term memory came back to me."

Bill and his wife Lisa observed their 24th anniversary on June 30. Their daughter Hailee is 19 — serendipitously, she was born on their fifth anniversary in 2006.

Bill has another daughter from his previous marriage: Alexis is 30 years old and will turn 31 in October. She has two sons — yes, some simple reasoning indicates that Bill therefore has two grandsons. One will turn 2 in November, two days after Thanksgiving, while the other was born this past July 30, two days after Bill's 55th birthday.

Speaking of thanksgiving, gratitude for Inspire Arts has been a key theme for Bill since he began participating in 2024.

"This program has really helped me make adjustments with time and relaxation and reducing stress," he says. "My attitude has really changed since I got here. I have more of a religious belief. That's a big part — I'm getting help from my heavenly Father."

Recently he has been partaking in an initiative called The Hartford Outreach sponsored by Truth and Freedom Ministry, a Windsor-based organization: "We distribute food, drinks, clothing and shoes to homeless people at Sigourney Park in Hartford," Bill says, adding that he has likewise attended the ministry's Sunday church services.

“I'm trying to slow down — to appreciate what I have and not focus on what I don't have" — Bill Streeter

Before his TBI transpired, vexing physical issues plagued Bill at earlier stages of his life. When he was 10, he was diagnosed with cancer — a grade 4 (or level 4) brain tumor, also known as glioblastoma multiforme (aka GBM).

"If brain tumors were sharks ... GBM would be the great white," according to the Johns Hopkins Medicine website. "More than any other brain cancer, GBM inspires fear because of its almost unstoppable aggression."

However, in Bill's case successful medical treatment stopped the tumor's progress, resulting in remission.

He developed vision difficulties as an 18-year-old — after laser surgery, the sight in his right eye is still blurry: "If I turn my head, I can see better because of peripheral vision, but the vision in that eye is impaired." A further sensory obstacle: Bill also endures a hearing impairment.

Despite these challenges, he has achieved some significant artistic accomplishments. His primary mediums are woodworking and acrylic painting — he favors landscapes. In the Inspire Arts woodshop, he has fashioned bowls, chess boards, cutting boards and more. He is in the process of building a multipurpose toy box as a gift for his grandson's second birthday.

"I've always been into painting," he says. "In ninth grade I took an art class ... and got into drawing and ceramics. I went to Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica and got an associate's degree in visual art."

Bill grew up about 60 miles east of Syracuse in Frankfort, New York, adjacent to Utica — but in a riddle-like twist, he says his family's home actually had a Utica address. He graduated from Frankfort High School in 1989. After receiving his associate's degree, Bill entered the workforce in the graphic-design realm.

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"One company let me go because I made a mistake on the job," he says. Asked if this was a fair firing decision, he replies: "I don't think it was fair — I had misheard what my supervisor said about the amount of printouts that were needed, and they double-printed. ... It was a big order."

He explains that his hearing impairment factored into his misunderstanding of her communication.

Such a drastic employment decision raises questions about the supervisor's judgment and the outfit's business protocol: For example, why would a company place a sizable print order based only on verbal instructions — isn't a more sensible approach to communicate an order in writing for the sake of clarity?

Ultimately, Bill says this circumstance turned out to be a good development for him career-wise. He decided to go back to school and earned a bachelor's degree in advertising design and production at Cazenovia College in New York state, about 50 miles west of Frankfort. This led to professional roles at Verizon and later at Bank of America.

Bill moved to Connecticut after the TBI occurred in 2023. He lives in Bristol.

Reflecting on his TBI journey, Bill says: “I'm trying to slow down — to appreciate what I have and not focus on what I don't have."

He credits Inspire Arts manager Rebecca Maloney with helping him be more deliberate in his artistic process.

"I have a tendency to rush, and she has helped me slow down," he notes. "After painting a layer, it's important to let the paint dry. The slower I go, the less mistakes I make — that is what is really helping me." +

• Editor’s Note

For these four artists, the Inspire Arts program is funded via Connecticut's Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) waivers. These waivers are Medicaid-funded programs that provide home- and community-based services for adults with traumatic brain injuries so they can live independently or at home with family, rather than in an institutional setting.

An ABI is a brain injury occurring after birth that isn't congenital or degenerative — a TBI is a specific type of ABI caused by an external physical force. So ABI is the umbrella term, while TBI is a subset of an Acquired Brain Injury. 

While these artists pay for Inspire Arts through ABI waivers as clients of The Supported Living Group, they don’t have direct access to their waiver-associated funds. Instead, the monies are allotted to clients via an individualized service plan and then billed via SLG, according to SLG executive director Jamie Arber.

Medicaid is a collaborative federal and state insurance program that covers medical costs for people with limited income. How have federal budget cuts under the Trump administration impacted Medicaid and Connecticut's ABI waiver program? The answer isn’t crystal-clear yet.

“The current impact is that all service budgets for waiver participants are under review by DSS,” says Arber — DSS refers to the state Department of Social Services. “Outside of that, there remains a lengthy wait list to get into the ABI waiver program — six to eight years.”

Arber established Inspire Arts in March 2021. +

• This article is the third in a series:

   Part 1: Inspire Arts​ –​ Offering ​creative hope to​ brain injury survivors

Part 2: Inspirational Initiative – Exclusive Q&A with Inspire Arts principals

Featuring community news that matters nationwide, Today Magazine and Today Online aim to record Connecticut’s underreported upside — covering the heart of the Farmington Valley and beyond

Today publisher and editor-in-chief Bruce Deckert is a multi-award-winning journalist who believes all people merit awards when we leverage our various God-given gifts for good

Today Magazine and Today Online are produced by Today Publishing

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