Located in the Lesher Center for the Arts, the Bedford Gallery exhibits the work of historic, modern, and contemporary artists. Its mission is to present exhibitions that reflect and engage the diverse audiences of the Contra Costa region. The Bedford has put together a community of contemporary artists whose work examines the role that building, climate and nature play in our modern life. This exhibition examines the natural and built areas which we call home from the role of the interior in early modern genre painting to recent deconstructions of the home that have enriched our way of thinking about the room we live in. 

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Bedford Gallery, a program of the City of Walnut Creek, displays the work of traditional, new, and contemporary artists. The Gallery is dedicated to providing the public with opportunities to learn about visual arts through public programs that are diverse, open, stimulating, and educational. Its task is to offer exposures and other programs which represent and involve various audiences throughout the region of Contra Costa. Every year 4 to 5 exhibitions are being organized and presented in the Gallery. They do give seminars , conferences, forums and other public services on occasion. In addition to workshops for adults and veterans, gallery instructors deliver hand-held art projects to more than 3,500 school children each year. The majority of their school tours are offered free of charge to schools in Contra County because we offer free school tours and bus scholarships. Around 60 unpaid members of the Bedford Gallery Docent Council are trained in art history and teaching techniques.

The Bedford Gallery Guild, a group of around 50 volunteers, staffs the reception desk each day, plans meetings and other special events. 

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Bedford Gallery is the biggest collective visual arts venue between the Bay Area and Sacramento with 3,500 meters of exhibition space. This spot of contemporary art is housed in the Lesher Center for the Arts of the City of Walnut Creek, which contains three venues, and Diablo Regional Arts Association (DRAA), our fundraising partner. The aim of DRAA is to invest in artistic excellence, to provide opportunities for all to experience the action, pageantry and excitement of the arts as a non-profit partner in the Lesher Center for the Arts.

The Gallery was founded in 1968 as the Civic Arts Gallery and was rebaptised as the Center 's Campaign for Peter and Kirsten Bed ford. The Bedford Gallery is part of the Arts + Rec Department of the City of Walnut Creek.