It is a school that allows complete artistic freedom to its students without ever trying to thrust on them what they need to create.

It is the Creative Club Art Studio which is located in Pune’s Bhosale Nagar nurturing talent of the young without any inhibitions.

Started by Bal Wad in 1981, it celebrated its 40th anniversary last month and is currently being helmed by Wad’s daughter Sujata Dharap, who runs it along with sculptor and potter and Wad’s student, Rashmi Bhadkamkar

What makes this Club unique is its teaching as it develops the students’ instincts rather than make them follow instructions. Students dabble in drawing, painting, collages and clay modelling. Dharap’s method of instruction is different. Sharing it with indianexpress.com, she said: “We don’t give our students erasers because we believe that no idea should be erased; we want our students to be able to resolve their errors. Every line teaches you something.”

Moreover, the Centre also does not provide students with rulers as Dharap wants them to move away from measured and calculated processes and take to ones which are free and natural.

Elaborating on this aspect, she said, she aims to shape the form of thought instead of providing the content of thought; not teaching them what to think but how to think. “We never tell our students what to draw, or have them recreate a pre-existing piece. Our role is to give them techniques and to teach them how to see, how to observe.”

Fondly called Suju Maushi by her students, Dharap has spent over 35 years teaching children. “I believe that as an art teacher, my role is to encourage the creative process in each individual to develop naturally and not be pressed into a particular system or curriculum.”

Interestingly, the Centre is open for everyone, young and adults. “Age is no bar, all you need is a love for art,” remarked Dharap.

An alumnus of Mumbai’s JJ School of Art, Dharap joined Wad in 1985.