Variations is a portrait of three artists set apart by their own definition of ability.  Dancer Kris Lenzo, musician Chris Foreman, and artist Riva Lehrer reveal the process behind their art as they talk about the influence of their lives on their practice. The film seeks to convey varied human experiences and promote the belief that disability is a natural part of human diversity and takes pride in its heritage and culture.

Kris Lenzo is a dancer with the Momenta Dance Company where he works closely with dancer Ginger Lane to teach a group of kids how to create beautifully choreographed dances. The group, EveryBody Can Dance, have a variety of abilities and create with their wheelchairs and ballet slippers amazing body sculptures that move and transform as they tell enlightening and funny stories about life.

Riva Lehrer is an artist, educator and activist. Her paintings and renderings have been exhibited internationally and her collection of portraits, Circle Stories, include overtly personal and political themes. Riva was born with Spina Bifida and wears big shoes that some goth kids on Belmont recently mistook as a trippy fashion statement. For Lehrer, the disabled body is intensely beautiful—memorable, unexpected, and lived in with great self-awareness. These are not bodies that are taken for granted or left unexplored. This beauty has often stayed unseen despite the constant, invasive public stare.

Chris Forman is a brilliant musician and the Hammond organist at the Green Mill in Chicago. He plays with the Deep Blue Organ Trio every Tuesday night from 9-1 AM, he does a solo show for the Friday Happy Hour and plays with Jazz vocalist, Kimberley Gordon every Sunday night. His fingers glide deftly over braille musical notation as he quickly memorizes the tablature to interpret his next phrase onto the keys of the piano in his classical piano class.