Fall 2026 Cohorts Enrolling in San Jose Now!
A place built for kids who experience the world in unique and creative ways.
A 12-week creative enrichment group for gifted, twice-exceptional, and neurodivergent children and their friends ages 5–13 years old.
Starting September 7th Spaces are Limited At Beacon's San Jose Office
Neuro-affirming, strengths based, trauma informed, and developed and ran by Beacon Wellness Team's specialized clinicians.
A Note From Our Clinical Director
We created Studio C to spark creativity and connection.
If you're reading this, you probably know the feeling. Your child is has exceptional talents and also is struggling in ways that don't quite make sense. They feel things more intensely than their peers. They ask questions that stop adults in their tracks. And somehow, despite all of that, they come home from feeling like they don't belong anywhere.
Studio C exists because that experience is real and because belonging matters. Growing upexperiencing this for myself and now raising two 2e children/teens, one of whom I
homeschool, I understand what it is like. After working with these incredible youth in therapy we realized that there was more we could do to support them. We want children to feel connected to a group of kids who are wired in similar ways and to have adults leading them who genuinely get it.
In Studio C your child will make things, name things, and figure out more about who they are. They'll build skills that transfer to social settings, to friendships, to hard moments. And they'll do it alongside peers who don't need them to be any more or less, just themselves.
Our curriculum is therapist developed and our cohorts and activities are clinician led, but this is not therapy. It's something we think is just as important: a place to practice being their self.
Toni Ratzburg, LMFT #52576
Clinical Director/Founder
Beacon Wellness Team
What is Studio C?
Creative expression meets social-emotional learning.
Each session is structured, clinician-facilitated creative work (art, collage, writing, and sensory based play) woven together with real skill-building in emotional literacy, connection, and confidence.
Creative Expression
Art, movement, sensory-based play, are the language of Studio C, not the reward at the end. The making is the work and the learning comes within the creating.
Confidence Building
Strength-based identity work where kids move from self-awareness to strength. They learning to name what's hard, own what's powerful, and show up as themselves.
Connection Focused
Social skills, belonging, conflict, and repair practiced in a room where being different is not the exception, it's the whole point.
Skill Building
Emotional regulation, coping strategies, and self-advocacy. Skills that transfer to every part of your child's life.
Three Age Groups
Each Cohort is built for developmental stage.
Groups are capped at 10 children, so that every child has room to be seen.
Makers
Kinder - 2nd Grade
Play-based and narrative-driven. Movement and sensory integration with learning prompts. This is intended to feel like play, because for this age group learning really is.
Explorers
3rd - 5th Grade
Use of metaphors, emotionally rich, and creative. Short discussion segments that are balanced with hands-on making time. Working to build vocabulary and explore who they are.
Innovators
6th- 8th Grade
Discussion-rich and identity focused. Self-directed creative choices. Provides for greater emotional depth, where they are welcomed and honored for who they are and who they are becoming.
The Compass
Every participant builds a personal compass across all sessions. It's part journal, part art portfolio, and part self-portrait. This goes home with they at the closing celebration and is never shared without permission.
A Typical Session
Kids relax when they know what comes next, so we built the structure in. Predictability matters.
Arrival and Check-In
Participants settle in, engage in a welcome activity, or explore the room. They check-in on how they are doing as they arrive.
Opening Circle
A brief breathing or body-awareness practice. This may vary slightly, but the goal is that it becomes a cue for safety, centering, and creativity.
Mini Lesson
An exploration on the week's theme, delivered through stories, metaphors, and questions. No lectures.
Core Activity
The heart of the session. Art, collage, writing, movement, etc. Each activity is tied to the week's theme and builds on previous weeks.
Sharing and Practice
While sharing is always optional, we provide space to do so. Skill practicing comes in small, concrete strategies that they can use outside Studio C.
Compass Page
A page is added to their personal Compass, a cumulative artifact of their time with Studio C. This is theirs to keep at the end of the cohort.
Closing
A check in on how they are doing, a ritual to create rhythm and connection.
Important Details
Studio C is enrichment. Here is what that means.
Studio C is:
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A clinician-led enrichment group
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Evidence-informed social emotional skill building
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Creative expression as the primary modality
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A strength-based, neurodiversity-affirming experience
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A compliment to individual therapy, not a replacement
Studio C is not:
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Group therapy or clinical treatment
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A replacement for individual or group therapy
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A diagnostic program
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Billable to insurance
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Something your child needs a diagnosis to join
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A socials skills group (this has social components and learning, but it is different)
If clinical concerns arise during Studio C, we will contact you directly and provide referrals. Our Studio C leaders are Licensed mental health professionals or Associates under clinical supervision. They know the difference between enrichment and SEL education and when something needs more.
Who Runs Studio C
Clinicians who specialize in this population.
Our Studio C leaders are licensed mental health professionals (Marriage and Family Therapists, Clinical Social Workers, or Professional Clinical Counselors) or are supervised Associates under the clinical supervision of Beacon Wellness Team's licensed clinicians.
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Trained in neuro-affirming practice, twice-exceptional development, and social-emotional learning.
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Working within scope of practice of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences
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Mandated reporters, required by law to act if a child's safety is at risk
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Supervised and supported by Beacon Wellness Team's leadership
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Genuinely curious about and enjoys the children and teens they work with; which in our experience, is one of the most important variables.
Common Questions