The Anchor House of Artists continued to thrive.  The summer of 1999 birthed an effort at AHOA to reach out to other communities. AHOA operated a series of studio sessions hosted by Ron Maggio, director of Springfield College Art Department, and sponsorned by the Springfield Cultural Council and by funds given in the name of Dustin Putnam.  The series, named the Dustin Putnam Artists' Circle in honor of the namesake whose life was short and occluded by mental illness, gathered several artists from Hamden county and an exhibit of the work took place in February 2000. 

In November 1999, AHOA brought together artists from around the nation including Marc Willey, Los Angeles, California; Moe Armstrong, Boston, Massachusetts; Pat Pope, Missoula, Montanna; Joanne Socia, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Danny Gayder, Floodwood, Minnesota; Vida Wilson, Brattleboro, Vermont. Funded in part by Community Foundations of Western Massachusetts, the project helped establish a cultural context for AHOA in its home community.

In November 2000, Building on that community connection AHOA hosted a show in conjunction with a series of events marking the closure of the Northampton State Hospital (find more at www.1856.org). Distinct from other venues at this event , the artists included in this exhibit had been former patients of NSH. Through the AHOA all these had established themselves as the fine artists that they had a right to be. Genevieve Burnett, Kevin Bouricius and poet Bernie Dostal were featured.

The show year was completed with an exhibit in support of a citywide campaign to establish Northampton as a hate-free zone. The exhibit, funded in part be the Massachusetts Cultural Council featured twenty portraits from AHOA represented artists. Working with the Northampton Human Rights Committee this event lent special social acknowledgement to artists whose lives might otherwise be overlooked