David Sortino has spent the last four decades becoming an expert in how young minds learn and grow. So it may come as a surprise when he says he had troubles in school himself.

“I didn’t do well, and I was always interested in why,” says Sortino. “Basically, I’ve always been interested in why kids can’t learn in our schools.”

After a lifetime of research and observation, Sortino collects his wealth of knowledge into the new book, A Guide to How Your Child Learns: Understanding the Brain from Infancy to Young Adulthood, that offers readers a step-by-step breakdown of the brain’s development and gives practical, research-backed advice on how to maximize your child’s learning poential.

Raised in Connecticut, Sortino earned a master’s degree in child development from Harvard and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Saybrook University before moving to Santa Barbara in 1974.

In 1989, Sortino and his wife relocated to Sonoma County. “I was interviewing for a job at El Molino High School [in Forestville], and when I drove Highway 116, it reminded me a lot of Connecticut with the apple orchards,” he says.

Since then, he has taught at Santa Rosa city schools and the Santa Rosa Junior College, served as a consultant to state and county programs for at-risk and special needs children, and worked directly with individuals and families through his private business, the Neurofeedback Institute in Graton.

Neurofeedback is a brain-training program, supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, in which Sortino observes brain function through sensors attached to the scalp that monitor brainwaves. Sortino can assess anxiety, attention deficit and behavioral disorders, and offer patients mental exercises
to train their brains to function more efficiently without medication.

In the last decade, Sortino has also written extensively on learning on his blog, neurofeedbackinstitute.blogspot.com. Many of those are collected in his new book.

“It’s not theoretical; the research supports what I’m trying to say,” says Sortino. “I’m not reinventing the wheel. I’m just telling you what works and what doesn’t.”

A Guide to How Your Child Learns is the first in a series of three books that Sortino is calling the Brain Smart Series. “I’m giving the reader an idea, and they can take it from there.”

‘This is really a pivotal moment for di Rosa,” says Bob Sain, executive director for the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art. “Everybody talks about going to the next step and the next stage, but this is more about changing the game.”

Nestled between Napa and Sonoma in the Carneros region, di Rosa began as the private art collection of grape grower Rene
di Rosa. Since 1997, the 217-acre property has operated under the ambiguous title of di Rosa. Now the nonprofit is rebranding itself as the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, as it invites artists to create new works onsite and engaging the public through new educational programs.

“This is a moment and an opportunity to explore what a contemporary art center should be,” says Sain. “We feel compelled to share why art matters and how art and artists can be a resource and an asset to the concerns and needs of our time.”

For the past year, di Rosa has been renovating its gallery spaces and curating the upcoming exhibition, “Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times,” opening Jan. 27, which commissioned several
Bay Area artists to address the country’s post-election political and social atmosphere through immersive installations.

“When we first conceived of the concept last year, we wondered if it would seem a little dated by the time it opened,” says Sain. “But the times have continued to be uncertain, and the show continues to have relevance.”

Curator Amy Owens approached the exhibition as a shift in the center’s focus. “We wanted to address pressing issues of our time and hand the reins over to the artists by inviting them to drive the themes and topics,” says Owens. “Through this model, I think we’re getting much closer to what di Rosa historically has been and was intended to be. We’re putting artists at the forefront.”

“Be Not Still” features four installations, including Iranian-American artist Ala Ebtekar’s Azimuth (shown), which transfers an image of the cosmos taken by the Hubble telescope onto ceramic floor tiles and explores what it means to live without borders. Other works include Allison Smith’s investigation of the rise of white nationalism through cast-iron tiki torches, and Rigo 23’s three-dimensional model of the American flag as a series of walls that viewers can walk through.

The show was scheduled to debut in November, but smoke damage from October’s wildfires, which came over the ridge of Milliken Peak adjoining the center’s property, delayed the opening.

Forging ahead after the fires, the upcoming exhibit is being bolstered by new art-making programs and art-appreciation workshops, “Third Thursday” socials and a book club, as well as partnerships with the Boys & Girls Club of Napa and other groups that aim to bring art to the people.

“Education is central to what
an arts organization is about,” says Sain. “It’s new for di Rosa to have this level of educational programming. It’s an integral part of the exhibition and a way to make it accessible and meaningful.”