In 2001, Drs. Corbitt and Nix-Early were awarded a research grant form the Louisville Institute to conduct a national research project. Their task was to document the existence and effect of Christian artists and faith-based arts programs working for personal and social transformation within marginalized urban communities. The results of this research were published in a book, Taking it to the Streets: Using the Arts to Transform Your Community (Baker 2003) and would serve as a theoretical foundation for future programs, including BuildaBridge Institute.

In 2002, BuildaBridge established The Institute for the Church and the Community Arts (ICCA) (now simply BuildaBridge Institute) and began to provide training and education to professional and lay artists, teachers and community workers who wanted to integrate the arts effectively in community-based service and mission. Supported by the Department of Human Services in the City of Philadelphia between 2002 and 2005, it intensively prepared over 100 participants in arts-integrated service. In 2006, BuildaBridge signed a partnership agreement with Eastern University to offer, through the Institute, graduate courses for Eastern's new MA in Urban Studies Arts in Transformation Concentration. An accredited Certificate in Arts in Transformation was also launched to give legitimacy to potential community arts professionals who want to formally study the community arts or use them in community service.

In 2008 and 2009 the Institute curriculum integrated a new track of course offerings (part of the MA in Urban Studies) and new training courses in emergency art relief. Courses are now being prepared on-line for distance training and education.

Now in its ninth edition, BuildaBridge Institute has instructed more than 285 professionals from USA, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and has attracted a faculty body of 80 professional artists, arts educators and practitioners from Philadelphia and around the US. The Institute is ecumenical in that it is open to people of all faiths and without discrimination to those seeking to work in the civic context.