Andrei Afonin graduated from philological faculty of Moscow State University in the late 80’s. In 1991 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary. In 1999, he received a diploma from the Institute of Retraining of Art and Culture Workers in the speciality of pantomime and plastic theatre (workshop of I. G. Rutberg). In 2013, he received a diploma in theatre and drama at the Institute of Contemporary Art (workshop of E.V. Vandalkovsky).
He has over 27 years of experience in the field of socio-cultural rehabilitation. Throughout his career, Andrei participated in many international scientific and practical conferences on the issues of socio-cultural rehabilitation and the art of people with disabilities. In 2004-2010. He was a member of the district and city experimental programmes "Providing affordable education for children with disabilities."
In 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Diploma from the Russian Ministry of Education.
Andrei is the author of the educational program focused on psychological rehabilitation called for the Department of Psychological Rehabilitation of Moscow State Pedagogical University, which he taught himself for four years at the University.
Until 2013, he was a Board member of the Russian Society for Social and Creative Rehabilitation of Children and Youth with Development Challenges and Their Families called Kroog (Moscow). He was one of the founders, a member of the organizing committee and a member of the selection committee of the All-Russian festival of special theatres (from 2000 to 2012).
Since 2013, he has been Chairman of the Regional Branch of the Interregional Public Organization in Support of People with Mental Impairments and Psychophysical Disabilities “Equal Opportunities” (Moscow, Russia).