Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

The Intuit, just west of Chicago's downtown, is a different kind of art museum featuring intuitive and outsider art, which they define as the "work of artists who demonstrate little influence from the mainstream art world and who seem instead motivated by their unique personal visions."

756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago

312-243-9088

CTA Blue Line train (Chicago stop), or the CTA #66 Chicago Avenue bus

Street parking is available (tends to be more plentiful on weekends)

Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Open until 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

Adults: $5
Members and Children Under 12: Free

Intuit Center website

The opposite of the Art Institute of Chicago, Intuit houses art created by people that have not had any apparent art training or mentoring from the art world -- hence the term "outsider art." For instance, an exhibition in recent years featured the art of Lee Godie, a homeless woman who used to sell her paintings and drawings on the streets of Chicago. The Intuit has also recreated the Lincoln Park live/work space of Henry Darger, who worked his life as a janitor but was discovered posthumously to have written a fascinating 15,000 page manuscript highlighted by tons of his drawings and watercolors.

While it might seem that viewing the work of "amateurs" would be futile, most of the art is complex and offers, in my opinion, more of an in-depth look into the artists' mind.

For a decidedly more educated opinion than mine, read about outsider art from About.com's painting expert.