Founded in 1985, LAPD creates performances and multidisciplinary artworks that connect the experience of people living in poverty to the social forces that shape their lives and communities. Made up of people who make art, live and work on Skid Row (LA's poorest area), LAPD was active in a movement with advocates, residents and social service professionals, that changed the paradigm by putting forward the idea that Skid Row could be improved by nourishing the powers of the people who live there. LAPD has created theatre projects throughout the U.S. and in the UK, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Bolivia, while working with artists and arts organizations, drug recovery programs, shelters and communities.