Anita is a native South Carolinian, born in Columbia. She grew up with two loves, creating art and working to eliminate extreme social injustice. All the while, Anita steadily nurtured her creativity. She designed costumes for community and professional theatres in Atlanta, in Sumter, SC, and in colleges in Georgia as well as South Carolina.

Anita and her family moved to Atlanta in 1984, where she and her husband, Dr. James Beaty, then worked for 37 years as directors of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, emphasizing the creative arts with the Community at Peachtree and Pine. "I'm in love with people, especially faces," says Anita, "and I love painting people who have never seen themselves as I see them." An avowed pastelist, Anita studied with Burton Silverman, the late master, Daniel Green, and with Margaret Dyer in Atlanta.