The Mattress Factory is a research and development lab for artists. As a museum of contemporary art, it commissions new site-specific works, presents them to the widest possible audience, and maintains selected individual installations in a growing - and distinctive - permanent collection. The Mattress Factory's physical and organizational environments have developed out of and responded to a central focus in the creative process. The Mattress Factory has a robust education and outreach program that serves more than 20,000 students of all ages and abilities, many of which are offered free of charge to families.