Burke started at the center as a volunteer and, for the last 13 years, has been a lead teacher of the afternoon program, working with clients who mostly range in age from 18 through 25, he said.
Burke attributes his success working with the clients to having a lot of patience and treating them as equals, he said.
“I’m one of the most patient people, and that’s what you need,” he said. “I get them. I understand them. I can get into their mind.”
Burke looks at them as people first, then he sees their disability, he said.
“They are just like anybody else,” he said. “Everybody is different. Their issues are out in the open for everyone to see. Our flaws are hidden.”
An actor, Burke has also been a script consultant and disability acting coach for movies about the developmentally disabled.
He worked for five weeks this summer in Canada on the Hallmark Hall of Fame film “A Dog Named Christmas,” which will be broadcast at 9 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
Burke was the perfect selection for the assignment, said BCR Executive Director Lonna Grant.
“He has great insight and sensitivity to people with developmental disabilities and his natural creative talents have enhanced BCR’s programs tremendously,” she said. “He is a great role model and has a special connection with our clients.”
When he came to Los Angeles 23 years ago, he was a busy working actor, he said, but something was missing from his life. So he started a nonprofit organization, Actors Sharing Love, a group of 20 actors that once a week would entertain at convalescent hospitals and schools throughout the Los Angeles area.
He started volunteering at BCR and then did substituting for the center.
“And the rest is years and years of history,” he added.
