BRADENTON, Fla. — November is National Veterans and Military Family Month, a time to recognize the sacrifices made by service members and their families.

The Veterans Art Center Tampa Bay is celebrating in a unique way by hosting a month-long art gallery called Honor of Heroes, featuring art created by veterans.

Mack Macksam, the founder of the organization, said the Honor of Heroes art gallery at ArtCenter Manatee is a way to help veterans using art.

“We are currently in our 11th year, and what we have done — and are still doing — is providing alternative therapies through the arts," Macksam said. "It’s about mental health, healing and suicide prevention."

Among the featured artists is Ben Ruzicka, who has launched his own business, Ben Ruzicka Studios, to sell his artwork.

Ruzicka, a former Green Beret, served as a medical sergeant in Special Forces for 17 years until a traumatic event changed his life.

“In 2013, we were in Afghanistan and we were attacked by a whole bunch of suicide bombers," he said. "I was shot with an RPG. After several deployments and surgeries, I had another surgery in 2017, and everything went wrong."

He said that surgery left him paralyzed from the waist down, and it took months for him to relearn how to walk. Through his darkest times, one thing kept him going: his art.

And Ruzicka said he never knows where his art will take him.

“Working on lines right now — we’re going to see what comes out of it,” he said.

He said his creative process is often spontaneous, explaining that "my ideas usually come in the middle of the night."

Those midnight sketches eventually transform into vibrant works of art.

Ruzicka has been an artist since childhood, inspired by the natural beauty of his upbringing in Alaska. Now, art serves as a form of therapy as he battles PTSD.

Ben Ruzicka shows his art to visitors at ArtCenter Manatee. (Spectrum Bay News 9/Julia Hazel)

“This is one of the only things I can do,” he said. “I could only lay in bed for the first few months. Then, for the next few months, I could only sit. Art is something I’ve always enjoyed, so naturally, I was drawn back into it.”

Each piece of art he creates tells a story.

“Our inner child — our memories — could look back at us now, and what would they say?” he said.

Ruzicka is sharing those stories with the community in honor of National Veterans and Military Family Month. 

“Everybody here, being a veteran, comes from a similar background," he said. "It’s fun to see how that comes out in their work — this much later in their careers or lives — and how it manifests itself."

Having recently launched his own studio, Ruzicka said he hopes to showcase and sell his work more frequently.

“There’s a lot that I want to do,” he said.

The Honor of Heroes art gallery at ArtCenter Manatee will run through Nov. 22.