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The ArtStream program, created expressly for people with disabilities, focuses on their strengths in the creative and dramatic arts. The nonprofit group brings together professional artists — actors, musicians and dancers — and individuals and groups with disabilities or challenging life circumstances. A six-month preparation period results in the creation of an original piece of theater.

So when the company performs this weekend and next in Silver Spring, the cast of 10 — eight with disabilities, two without — will stage ‘‘Lost in a Dream at the Super Hero Diner,” a play they created themselves.

What’s the casting process like?

‘‘They do audition for us,” Woolsey says. ‘‘We try to accept everyone who comes in the door, but there are some personality disorders that don’t lend themselves to working in groups.”

Once in, ArtStream students set to work on an original script, one they create through improvisation and dialogue. It is, as Woolsey says, ‘‘a script that’s written with these particular actors in mind.

‘‘I think it’s really empowering,” she adds. ‘‘These shows really challenge the stereotype of what people with disabilities can do.”

Amelia O’Connor, the show’s director, says that ultimately, the ArtStream experience opens the minds of everyone involved.

‘‘I think it’s such an important thing for students with disabilities to see other students with disabilities succeed,” says the 27-year-old special education teacher at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. ‘‘The actors know that other people with disabilities are coming to the show, and the audience understands what life is like for the actors on stage.”

The concept of theater for the disabled is no novelty, especially here in Montgomery County. Indeed, ArtStream grew out of the two adults with disabilities companies at Imagination Stage, a place where both Woolsey and O’Connor had worked in the past.

Woolsey, a New Jersey native, holds a bachelor of arts degree in drama from Catholic University and a master’s in psychology from Pacifica University. O’Connor grew up in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area, went to New York University’s playwright’s program, then to the University of Maryland for a bachelor of arts degree in theater. After working at Imagination Stage for three years, she earned a master’s degree in education and human development.

When they decided to found ArtStream, the women say, Imagination Stage was focusing its mission on children under age 18. ArtStream proposed to offer programming for adults with disabilities, and Imagination Stage agreed, pleased that the adult population that had grown up in its productions would be able to continue to perform.

‘‘We have taken over their adult performance companies,” explains Woolsey, who was with Imagination Stage for 15 years, ‘‘and it has blossomed from there.”

Now, she says, there are four ArtStream companies, in Silver Spring, Gaithersburg and Arlington. (The Gaithersburg company will stage its own production later this month.)

‘‘We feel there’s a real need in the community,” she says.

A need for creativity and continuity for adults with disabilities who may have aged out of the drama programs they enjoyed while at school. And a need for family-friendly entertainment with overarching themes of inclusion and acceptance.

‘‘Most of our audiences are built from our actors: their families and friends,” O’Connor says. ‘‘But we want the local community to come check it out, too.

‘‘It’s a different type of show — but it’s always a fun time.

ArtStream’s Silver Spring Inclusive Company presents ‘‘Lost in a Dream at the Super Hero Diner” at 8 p.m. this Friday and next (June 8), and 3 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday and next (June 9 and 10), at Round House Theatre, 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $10. Call 202-669-7652 or visit www.art-stream.org.