Prior to his death on December 15, 1966, Walt Disney took a deep interest in the establishment of California Institute
of the Arts, a college-level professional school of all the creative and performing arts. Of Cal Arts Walt once said,
"It's the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop
the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something."
California Institute of the Arts was founded in 1961 with the amalgamation of two schools, the Los Angeles Conservatory
of Music and Chouinard Art Institute. The campus is located in the city of Valencia, 32 miles northeast of downtown Los
Angeles. Walt Disney conceived the new school as a place where all the performing and creative arts would be taught under
one roof in a "community of the arts" as a completely new approach to professional arts training.
Walt Disney is a legend, a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity is based upon the ideas his name
represents: imagination, optimism, and self-made success in the American tradition. Walt Disney did more to touch the
hearts, minds, and emotions of millions of Americans than any other man in the past century. Through his work he brought
joy, happiness, and a universal means of communication to the people of every nation. Certainly our world shall know but
one Walt Disney.