Three portraits by Xie Xinxin. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A powerful idea

Over the past 10 years, the organization has helped 397 students in 16 locations, including Chengdu, Dujiangyan, Hanwang and Dayi in Sichuan province and Chongqing, Yushu in Northwest China's Qinghai province and Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province. A dozen of them have been to college and some have graduated, got a job and married.

Zhang Jun, secretary-general of the organization, knows that the commitment to helping these artists never ends.

Some of the current students have been with the organization since the very beginning.

Zhang initially struggled with whether to help more students or stick to the current scale, and, whether to start a designated school, or just work with local special schools and welfare institutions.

He chose the latter.