The museum store is operated by DDSO Community Services, formerly called Developmental Disabilities Service Organization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization offering community-based art, employment, and life skills activities to enrich the quality of life for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

History of the Capitol Museum and Developmental Disabilities Service Organization

Decades ago, as clients of the Stockton State Hospital were being released into the community, Mary Short, the wife of California Senator Alan Short, put forth an innovative idea to use the arts to awaken the untapped spirit of creativity in persons with developmental disabilities. She helped create Very Special Arts, which grew to a national organization.

She then founded the Alan Short Center in Stockton, California in 1975, DDSO’s first art center (and the first program of its kind in the nation) to support adults with disabilities who had aged out of public school systems. Programs provided mentorship from professional artists and helped participants get community recognition for their amazing abilities. DDSO grew to add two new art programs in Sacramento, Short Center North and Short Center South.

At that same time, between 1975 and 1981, the California State Capitol underwent a historic $67 million restoration. John Worsley, during his tenure as State Architect overseeing the renovation, saw an opportunity to repurpose copper from the dome, marble from the rotunda and other discarded artifacts into unique memorabilia. He donated the artifacts to DDSO. Artists with disabilities from the Short Centers used the material to create ornaments, sculpture, and other collectables. Mary Short and the Restoration Gala committee asked DDSO to open and operate a museum store that would provide the public with commemorative souvenirs of California’s historic event. In January 1982, Capitol Books and Gifts was launched during the Restoration Gala celebration of the newly restored Capitol.