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Painting wasn't always so easy for Robin Gray. She couldn't figure out how to hold a paintbrush, and was in pain when she tried.

But this month her work and that of thirty other artists from United Cerebral Palsy of New York City is on display at The Gallery at the Prince George Hotel in Manhattan.

"These are people who used to think that they couldn't do anything because they have a disability," says Julia Justo, NY1's New Yorker of the Week. "Many times they have a low self-esteem and all of a sudden they discover that they have a talent, that they are creative like any other artist."

Justo and co-New Yorker of the Week Eve LaBer are professional artists who teach at United Cerebral Palsy, an organization that helps individuals with cerebral palsy lead independent lives. They teach up to twenty students per class in all boroughs except Queens.

"They have been able to take our guys and let them see themselves as everything they potentially could be and more," says Jeisson Cardona, assistant director of day programs at United Cerebral Palsy. "They've made them believe in something."

Justo and LaBer say when they first started teaching four years ago, their students were reluctant to paint because they weren't confident and were scared of being judged.

Now the students are showcasing and selling their work at the gallery – where one painting sold for $400.

"Most of them don't have a job, they don't work," says Justo. "But they feel like this way they can work like anybody else. And it's a better job, selling your own paintings."

Gray said she started painting because she found it therapeutic.

"I did it because it was a way to get out my stress, and I was upset about certain things and that was a way to do it," she says.

LaBer says sometimes the role of teacher and student become reversed.

"I have learned a lot about my own art," LaBer says. "When I am with them, I think about them, I think about what they're able to do, and actually it has helped me when I go to do my art."

Their exhibition is called Celebrating the Creative Spirit.

"It allows them to fulfill their lives," says of Cardona of the students. "They're capable of doing anything, and they're living that dream out thanks to them."

So for showing their students that they are capable of creating valuable art and living valuable lives, Julia Justo and Eve LaBer are our New Yorkers of the Week.

If you'd like to nominate someone to be NY1's New Yorker of the Week, send an email describing their qualifications to nyer@ny1.com or mail a letter to:

NY1 News
New Yorker of the Week
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New York, NY 10011