Chouinard Art Institute - Art institute in Los Angeles, founded by Mrs. Nelbert Chouinard. Walt is shown here on the day he received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the institute. The Chouinard had been closely tied to the Disney company and its artists from the 1930s. In the early 1930s, Walt arranged for artists to take classes at the Chouinard Art Institute. "I felt like if I was going to get anywhere," he said, "it was by training my own people." The Chouinard Art Institute was later absorbed in the new California Institute of the Arts ('CalArts') which became one of Walt's passions in the last years of his life.
