Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948,dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual arts of the present and recent past and document new directions in art, while engaging the public and encouraging a greater understanding of contemporary art through education programs. Contemporary Arts Museum Houston opened in 1972, in a building designed by Gunnar Birkerts.