Peter Franzino, 97, shows off some of the stained-glass art he has made. Franzino is a resident at East Ridge Retirement Village in Cutler Bay.

After his thrice-weekly workout that includes dumbbells, the treadmill and 75 strokes on the rowing machine, 97-year-old Peter J. Franzino heads to his makeshift art studio, a windowless room by the air conditioning unit in the activities center of East Ridge Retirement Village in Cutler Bay.

There he keeps his bench, his grinder, his cutter: the instruments to make stained glass, a hobby he picked up when he retired from accounting 30 years ago. He still tries to cut one small piece of glass every time he hits the studio.

''I have nothing else to do,'' he says matter-of-factly. ``I can't go out with girls.''

So he spends his days crafting glass images -- for friends, not for sale -- and doing needlepoint, the other art he picked up from his late wife, Mary, a painter.

Franzino's routine, even as he approaches a century of life, is not unusual. As more Americans live up to 100 and beyond, they're increasingly staying active -- and, at least anecdotally, taking up the arts.

''We've had a number of people who've never done anything [artistic] and then they get hooked on it,'' said Noreen Frye, director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Miami. ``We're seeing more and more of it.''

The institute offers art classes for people who are retired -- including in areas like digital photography, where advanced technology has not kept seniors from exhibiting work at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and the Miami Science Museum.

''By doing new learning, you generate new brain cells,'' Frye said.

`HEALTH BENEFITS'

That is one of the several health benefits to seniors that Dr. Gene Cohen of George Washington University has linked to being creative.

In a study published last year, Cohen and his colleagues found that seniors in a professionally run chorale gave their health a higher rating than other seniors who were not in creative community classes. They fell fewer times, felt happier and did more activities -- all factors contributing to their independence.

The number of over-the-counter medications and doctor visits also increased at a lower rate for the seniors in the chorale, the two-year study showed.

''Despite an average age of 80 they actually improved in health during the two years of the study,'' researcher Cohen added, ``while those in the control group declined. It was quite striking.''

Another two-year study -- this one in North Dakota -- confirmed art's medical and emotional benefits even among the fragile in long-term care centers.

Seniors in a Fargo center thrived when they took up painting, pottery, quilting and story-telling. The average age of an ''Art for Life'' participant was 86. The oldest was 103, said Troyd Geist, a folklorist at the North Dakota Council of the Arts, which designed the project.

The seniors became more fit and energized by using their muscles to paint, weave and throw pots, he added. They also become more sociable.

Creating art ''makes them feel they are still productive to society -- and they are,'' Geist said.

''It was a good ego builder,'' added Jan Webb, executive director of the arts council that has now taken the arts project to three rural communities.

In Cutler Bay, Franzino said he keeps at his stained glass art because of the pleasure of creating.

Franzino, a Long Island native who ran his own certified public accounting firm, retired and took up stained glass making in North Carolina.

A woman in the neighborhood was giving classes and he went out of curiosity.

He became hooked.

''The finished product was so worthwhile -- what you could create out of your hands,'' he said. ``It became a passion.''

More than 30 years later it still is.

''I like things that are hard to do,'' he said. ``You feel you accomplished something.''

Then he deadpanned, ``If I didn't work, I'd probably pass away.''

''He's got a sense of humor -- a great sense of humor,'' said Iris Baker, his friend and East Ridge's sales manager. ``He's always telling jokes. He's a delightful man.''

But he and other seniors aren't joking when they say they believe their art keeps them going.

TAUGHT ART

At East Ridge, sculptor Clivia Calder Morrison, a 15-year resident, taught art to her neighbors for about seven years. Now 99, she had to give up teaching a few years ago when she could no longer stand very well. She says she misses the companionship and purpose the classes gave her.

''My inspiration came when I started to get up in the morning,'' she said. ``I couldn't wait to get out of bed.''

The work and the classes were her secret to longevity, she said.

''Just keep working,'' she said. ``I have to keep my hands busy.''

She is now learning how to crochet.