With her bare feet spread, one arm raised and a loud scream, Michelle Miller began to stroke the drum in a steady rhythm.

Beside her Marc Louis, 12, followed her every move, lifting his hands up and down to the beat.

“She really knows what she’s doing,” said Marc, who was learning the art of Taiko drumming from Miller, 60.

And for Miller, sharing her expertise with the younger generation was just as fulfilling.

Miller came to Marc’s afterschool center through Creative Connection, a program created by the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood to help baby boomers re-engage in the arts.

“When you are younger, if you have an interest in arts you have time to do it,” said Jeff Rusnak, director of development for the center. “But as you get older, the time gets squeezed out. Now the time is there.”

The program is twofold: first the center is encouraging singers, actors and painters to form groups to foster their love for the arts and awaken creativity ; secondly, there are volunteer opportunities for the boomers to share their expertise in music, theater, drumming and the rest of the arts with younger generations.

“That’s what it’s all about,” said Miller, who plays with Fushu Daiko, a local Taiko drumming group.

She got pulled into the program by her son, Ben Miller, who plays in Fushu Daiko. Ben Miller led a drumming workshop for a group of 12 children who attend after school care at Handy, a program for abused, neglected and disadvantaged youth in Fort Lauderdale.

Williette Sejour, the youth development coordinator at Handy, said the arts program exposed the kids to arts lessons they wouldn’t normally get.

“It’s good for them to see the older generation giving back, so the kids would want to do the same when they grow up,” Sejour said.

As part of the program, retirees are teaching sessions at local organizations like Handy and Women in Distress. Over a six-week span, different groups are brought in to offer workshops in dance, drumming and other disciplines.

Last spring, the center received a $45,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Broward as part of its Re-engage for Good program, meant to offer opportunities for people 55 and older.

Creative Connections is really being led by the people who come, said Rusnak. Because this is something that hasn’t been tried before, Rusnak is leaving it up to those who come to really develop the program.

“The people who have been coming show a real desire to engage in something in which they are allowed to express themselves through the arts,” he said.

So far some members have suggested starting a chorale group, holding an art show and working in schools.

Jon Kitner, who retired three years ago after 38 years of being an art professor at Miami Dade College, said he was looking for a venue where he could meet other people like him — 65 and retired.

“I think there is a lot of potential for this to be successful,” he said. “It just seems like the boomers have become a wasted resource.”

Joe DeShano, 56, a retired elementary school teacher, said creative connections is a way to encourage baby boomers to use their experiences to help the younger generation.

He said it’s also a way to keep people going and let them know that they are not forgotten.

“It makes you feel good,” DeShano said. “It also shows you that you still got it.”