CCAM performers are full-time boarding students (now 45 in number, half girls, half boys, between the ages of 3 and 28, but mostly teenagers), all from difficult backgrounds- former street kids, gang members, promiscuous teens, etc. They were eligible for acceptance at CCAM because their lives were defined by one or more of the following adjectives:
Because of a widespread scholarship program instituted by the government, a few of our students had already completed studies at the Khmer School of Fine Arts (Khmer dance, drama, and music) before joining CCAM. However, upon their arrival, most of the students accepted at CCAM know nothing about art. Most of them have never even been to school and cannot yet read or write.
For the past five years, God has been bringing needy young people to us a few at a time. The decision about whether or not to take them in has been primarily on the basis of urgent need. The fact that they all turn out to be so talented is part of the great miracle that God is doing here! Every young person is a student in our school and a member of our performing company.
This first crop of students is being groomed to be the future teachers and leaders to provide rapid multiplication of the CCAM vision in the future. We hope one day to have CCAM arts centers and schools in every province in Cambodia. Students who graduate from our schools in the future will, hopefully, become Christian leaders in the church and in society, even becoming leaders of the country, and, perhaps, becoming influential in changing Cambodian attitudes which are presently hostile towards Christianity.