The centre d'art de Port-au-Prince in Haiti, was founded in 1944 by Dewitt Peters.An American who went to Haiti to teach english.
During its thirteen years in existence, the centre d'art has given an equal opportunity to several hundred individuals,the great majority were from the lower class.
A few of them have seized the opportunity, becoming in the process good and individualistic artists and greatly improving their social and economic positions.Men like Hector Hyppolite,Castera Bazile and Philome Obin have all been given support by the centre d'art.
The fact that the larger percentage of these artists came from the lower or submerged class has been the greatest contribution of the Centre d'Art to Haitian culture and to Haitian society.