The Advanced Ability Center was a breakaway organization from the Church of Scientology

Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

 established by former Scientologist David Mayo

David Mayo

David Mayo is a former member of Church of Scientology and affiliated organizations.Mayo is best known for being the leader of the Advanced Ability Center, a breakaway organization of the Church of Scientology....

 after the latter left the Church in February 1983 – a time when most of Scientology

Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

's upper and middle management was removed following the formation of the Religious Technology Center

Religious Technology Center

The Religious Technology Center is a Californian non-profit corporation. RTC was founded in 1982 by the Church of Scientology in order to control and oversee the use of all of the trademarks, symbols and texts of Scientology and Dianetics, including the copyrighted works of Scientology founder and...

 (RTC) and RTC head David Miscavige

David Miscavige

David Miscavige is the leader of the Church of Scientology and affiliated organizations. His title is Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center , a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology. Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard while a...

's restructuring of the church. David Mayo had been Hubbard's own auditor

Auditing (Scientology)

Auditing was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, and is described by the Church of Scientology as "spiritual counseling which is the central practice of Dianetics and Scientology".-Description:...

. The Advanced Ability Center later became the Theta International movement and was also known as the Church of the New Civilization.

Mayo taught material from the upper thetan levels

Operating Thetan

In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time ". According to religious scholar J...

 of the Scientology organization in the Advanced Ability Center. A division of the Advanced Ability Center was closed down again in 1984 under pressure from the main organization. According to Perspectives on the New Age edited by James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton

J. Gordon Melton

John Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion and New Religious Movements with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara...

 and published in 1992, the Advanced Ability Center formed in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 was in competition with the Scientology organization in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.