An artist-led charity is working together with CastleCourt shopping centre in Belfast to give artists with disabilities a space to create and display their works.
Paragon Studios has secured a shop unit in the city centre shopping hub through until June.
Artists with disabilities have already been in the space and busy creating, where they can be guided and assisted by two resident artists.
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Bronagh Lawson is one of those artists who have been overseeing the project, which received funding from Belfast City Council and The National Lottery.
"We're here until the end of June and we are trialling the concept of assisted studios," she told Belfast Live.
"They happen all around the world and basically it is a studio setting where there's artists who can assist the people who are actually in the studios.
"Part of the idea of actually doing it came about through doing art workshops and you get to the point where maybe what people need is not a workshop, they've got their own practice, but what they need is a space and a space where they can leave stuff.
"Some people don't have a table that they can use, so everybody has different reasons why they might need to leave things around.
"It's been a real joy actually when someone gets settled and organised and starts to work and to benefit from it, it's just been a real joy for us.
"A lot of work at the beginning but once people settle down and go 'wow, I've got a table, I've got a wall and someone can help me open these paint tubes', you know, it's as simple as that."
One of the artists Tommy, said he had rediscovered his love for painting through the project and said it was helping him to express himself at a difficult time in his own life.
He described his art style as "soberism" and said it was images that came to him as he created, meaning there could be unexpected developments.
"I'm someone who used to paint many years ago, as a way to relax and express myself and I haven't done that in quite a long time," he said.
"As you can see, I've a hand here that's vibrating, that's going on now for about six months, but whatever the paintbrush does, it stops it.
"I received a letter this morning for City Hospital for a brain scan, the doctor says it may be Parkinson's, and that's a 'may'.
"But it is what it is and this helps."
On the opposite side of the room is Sarah, an artist who channels her love of nature into the paintings she produces.
She said the act of creating art and doing it in a big space had helped her with getting out of her own house.
"It's so crowded in the house, getting myself out, because I have headaches and I need to get myself out for a while," she said.
"It felt great."
The project will continue to support the artists currently in the space and will also give others the chance to have a look at the work created.
Unit 59 in Castlecourt is open between 10am-2pm each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursaday.
Bronagh told Belfast Live it had been a delight to see the progress everyone was making and expressed her hope that the idea could be widened to the rest of society.
"I just think it's the tip of the iceberg, there's so many people that would benefit from this, either from the disability side or from the mental health side," she said.
"I would like to see them all around, in every town in NI, in fact we've already had one enquiry to do one in Newtownards, but they should be everywhere."
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