A place to belong for adults with special needs

We’re Open!

After more than 25 years of dreaming, planning, and building, the Big Wave Center is officially open! Together with our nonprofit providers, we’re creating opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to learn, work, stay active, and build meaningful connections — all on one inclusive campus in Half Moon Bay.

As a hub for the Bay Area special needs community, the campus includes housing for 40 adults, spaces for education, wellness, and recreation, job training, and the adjacent Big Wave Farm, where participants enjoy gardening, nutrition education, and time outdoors.

None of this would have been possible without the incredible support of our families, donors, volunteers, partners, and community. Thank you for believing in this vision and helping to create a place where adults with special needs can live with greater independence, purpose, and a sense of belonging.

Welcome to the Big Wave Center. Welcome to a place to belong.

Having spent most of my career teaching, developing, and managing programs in the special needs community throughout the Bay Area…what’s been missing is meaningful housing…a place these special young adults can call their own.

Empowering our residents to reach their full potential

The Big Wave Center is more than a place to live—it’s a place to belong. Here, adults with special needs have opportunities to build friendships, discover new interests, learn new skills, and enjoy active, fulfilling lives in an inclusive and supportive community.

Residents choose how they spend their days, following a supported living model that encourages independence, personal choice, and individual goals. Some attend classes, volunteer, or work in the community, while others enjoy on-campus activities, including fitness and recreation, wellness activities, and time at the adjacent Big Wave Farm.

The Center is also home to the nonprofit One Step Beyond, Inc., which operates an Adult Day Program and a Culinary & Catering Academy, offering continuing education, life skills development, employment pathways, and community engagement for adults with special needs throughout the Bay Area.

What our community is saying about Big Wave...

Here the local residents will thrive because they have choices about how they want to spend each day.

Many locals from different walks of life are coming together to support this community.

The Big Wave team has poured their hearts and souls into this project for many years.

Big Wave is a healthy place to build relationships with peers. It’s adaptive. Parents are the stakeholders.

The owners of Big Wave are sensitive to the fragile ecosystem of the land.

These are excellent people trying to do something incredible.

Given the increase in diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder alone, one in fifty-four children, we need these intentional communities now.

A community where everyone matters

The people who call Big Wave home are as diverse as any community. They have a wide range of interests, talents, personalities, and dreams. Some love art, music, sports, cooking, gardening, or animals. Others enjoy reading, academics, volunteering, or spending time with friends. While they have different intellectual and developmental disabilities, they are defined by their abilities, passions, and potential—not their diagnoses.

Like all of us, they want meaningful relationships, opportunities to learn and grow, purposeful work, and the chance to contribute to their community. They want to make choices about their own lives, pursue their interests, and build a future filled with purpose, independence, and belonging.

That’s why we created Big Wave—a place where every person is valued, every individual is supported, and everyone has the opportunity to thrive.