As Conant, CEO of CCC Music Therapy Center in Austin, describes the man's condition when his therapists first saw him, it's easy to side with the doctors' gloomy predictions. But as the story unfolds, Conant describes amazing progress after years of therapy at CCC, and the man's future turns from dismal to bright.

"We've made significant progress. That's not uncommon for us," Conant says nonchalantly.

The results may not be uncommon, but the means to get them are.

CCC therapists don't use weight training or traditional exercise routines to help people walk again. If a CCC patient wants to regain their speech, they don't spend hours forming fragmented sounds. CCC -- unlike any other therapy center in Central Texas -- uses music to heal the mind, which can mend the body.

"The whole concept sounds New Age -- people expect a woman with a long flowing dress and bells. But our model of therapy is following rigorous clinical models," says Conant, whose company's work has been featured in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association.

Even many insurance companies, Conant says, have accepted music therapy as a valid form of treatment.

"Getting our patients covered used to be a consistent fight," he says. "But in the past few years we've been extremely successful in getting insurance reimbursement. That's not the case, nationally."

CCC's marketing efforts during its first six years have been aimed at gaining credibility. With an established medical record now on file and the support of many insurance companies, CCC is working on getting exposure while expanding its client base of about 350 people each week.

The company has a good start. It's the only privately-held music center of its kind and the only music center that develops and markets its own programs.

Hope Young, CCC's clinical director and Conant's wife, says CCC is a progressive company in an already-progressive field.

"Our methods are very cutting-edge," she says. "We're doing things others won't try."

CCC isn't sure what its success rate is, but officials there say the majority of the center's clients see noticeable results. Even more impressive is the fact that most of them come to CCC after they have exhausted all traditional rehabilitation techniques, Conant says. Many clients visit the center, or have a therapist visit them, to augment other forms of treatment.

"We have yet to lose a patient because they didn't respond or they weren't happy with the treatment," Conant says.

Young says no one knows exactly how music affects the brain. But with the progress researchers have viewed through MRIs and CAT scans, it's apparent that it does.

"I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity to organize and reorganize cerebral function when it has been damaged," says Dr. Oliver Sacks of the Silver Spring, Md.-based American Music Therapy Association.

CCC treats Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients, but also helps the autistic, stroke victims, psychiatric patients or anyone who is affected by a disease or disorder originating from the brain. Pregnant women can even use music to "block" pain, or at least what is perceived as pain, Young says.

The center also works with local employees from companies like Dell Computer Corp., Motorola Inc. and USAA to help them cope with stress. Motorola, Young says, has even made the center one of its providers.

Music helps all of these people because it stimulates and fosters growth in all parts of the brain, Conant says.

"If someone can't speak because of a stroke, that means there are dead cells in the part of the brain that regulates speech," Conant says. "So we can go into the music part of the brain and eventually stimulate the speech part."

He says patients usually learn to sing before re-learning how to speak.

"By singing `hello,' it can retrain the speech part of the brain to where that person will be able to say `hello' normally," Conant adds.

The same philosophy can be applied to those who can't walk. By using a driving beat to coordinate leg movements, the brain can send impulses that allow a patient to step to the beat.

Eventually, after the music is phased out over a long period of time, the patient is able to walk without listening to music.

CCC's treatments rely on recorded and live music. Rather than the usual medical equipment strewn around a clinic, CCC's rooms are filled with tambourines, drums and bean bag chairs. The center itself is a converted house on Manchaca Road in South Austin. Patients walk in the back door, pass the dining room and enter one of four carpeted treatment rooms.

"It's important to have a relaxing environment," Conant says. "The brain won't work well unless the person is comfortable."

The type of music used depends on the patient. Like the environment, the music must make the patient comfortable. Finding the right music can be a long and arduous task, Conant says. Because the center treats patients from all over the world, they often need help from some of the University of Texas' ethnomusicologists, which are experts in different types of music from various regions.

UT, like most universities, doesn't have a music therapy program, so this is the only academic resource the center taps consistently. Conant says UT's music experts don't know exactly what CCC does, or how they do it, but they're always willing to help.

"They are very curious, though," he says.

As are many.

"There's much to learn about the brain," Young says. "Music therapy has broken through as a credible treatment, but it's not pervasive yet. But I say if it works, do it. And it works."