CTS Artist | CArla T. Sramek

About Carla

Carla Sramek is an artist and business woman who lives in Rossmoor, CA with her two roommates. From fine art to filmmaking to play writing to costume design, Carla puts all her inspiration and talents to work. She is always creating and working. Her first teachers in drawing and painting were Julie Lusk and Steve McAdams, and in ceramics Sue Woirol. In 2007 she began her studies with Andrea Gabriel and in 2008 held her first One-Person Exhibit at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

At CSULB she received art instruction from Carlos Silveira and Church Tran. Her paintings have been shown at the Huntington Beach Art Center in 2009 and 2011 and again at CSULB in 2010 in a One-Person Exhibit. In 2018, she began working with Taylor Windle (CSULB graduate) on theater and expanded into the realms of filmmaking, writing, musicals and stage costume design.Carla has presented her costume designs for Orange County Children’s Theatre at the Los Alamitos Weekend of Art Exhibit in 2022 and 2023.

Carla began to work on behalf of persons with disabilities in middle school as a panelist at Chapman University. Just out of high school, Carla was given the Mary Falvey Outstanding Young Person Award. In her senior year of high school, Carla began working at Hollywood Video Entertainment which nurtured her love for films. With her access to films readily available, she started The Movie Club at Los Alamitos High School, where she showed films to her friends and peers. She continued working at Hollywood Video for nine years, acquiring work-based learning on film releases and the intricacies of working with a team. She continues a version of The Movie Club to this day.

In 2005 Carla traveled to Chicago with Marquita Grenot-Scheyer and Jennifer Coots from CSULB and Mary Falvey and Richard Rosenberg from CSULA to speak about her college experiences.

In 2007 she gave the keynote address, “Education for All” at the Russian-American Roundtable in Education in Kursk, Russia. She co-authored a chapter in Special Education in Russia and the U.S.A. in 2008 and is a regular speaker at conferences and college classes. Articles have been written about Carla in the News-Enterprise by John Underwood -- “A case for inclusion – 4-Part Series”, 2002; and “Carla Sramek doing fine on her own,” 2003. Other publications include “Supported living – it takes a village” (Protection & Advocacy) in 2004, The Cage of the Different People by Benjamin Valdivia, 2009, which is available as an iApp, and the children’s picture book La Jaula de los Diferentes: Una Historia Fraternal by Benjamin Valdivia. The English version The Cage of the Different People: A Story of Brotherly Love (2009) is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

Carla had the idea of Carla’s Movie Restaurant, a space in which new filmmakers and artists could intermingle with the community. In 2011, a trial run of Carla’s Movie Restaurant was conducted with a large group of supporters. The following year, Carla’s Movie Restaurant held its first pop-up event at diPiazza’s Restaurant and Lounge in Long Beach, CA.

In 2014, Carla’s Movie Restaurant was awarded the “Emerging Arts Organization” by the Arts Council for Long Beach.

CMR-Carla’s Movie Restaurant became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2018.

CMR published Microenterprise Hits the Big Screen, by Carla and Hilda Sramek and Leslie A.M. Smith in March 2023, as a guidebook for anyone wanting to start a microenterprise and with additional resources for persons with disabilities. Available on Amazon and Kindle, it is based on Carla’s experience from her dream to her present work with CMR, to empower and inspire others to follow their dream.

In 2023, Carla was selected for inclusion in the LA Times’ OC Visionaries publication "dedicated to recognizing the most influential leaders within the ever-growing OC market who exhibit excellence in their respective fields." To be recognized among top visionaries in Orange County speaks to the importance Carla's dream and the work with her Team. To see the full publication, click here.

CMR continues to put on exciting and inclusive pop-ups both virtually and in person to ensure that CMR’s global family always has access to uplifting and inspirational artistic material.