The Crucible, Oakland

With the vision of a bracelet in mind, a student lays a strip of steel over an anvil and begins bending it under the blows of a hammer. Down the hall, another budding artist pours molten glass into a mold, which soon cools into a decorative orb. Each year, the faculty at The Crucible educates roughly 5,000 adults and children in arts that range from ceramics to fire dancing. Starting in 1999 with a $1,750 grant, the nonprofit's founders—a small group of artists that includes sculptor Michael Sturtz—nurtured a vision that took them from a 6,000-square-foot warehouse to a solar-powered, 56,000-square-foot arts-education studio. Beyond the classrooms, The Crucible also hosts galleries where both students and faculty show their work, exploring the various elements of design or states of longing for a Twinkie.