A lways Means Well...S pecial Interests...

Online presentation of Fukawa's sculpture installation, dealing with the subject of autism

Daniel, a very talented young man, has been painting since he was 11 years old. His favourite mediums are wax crayons and oils pastels on paper. Daniel's technique is very much his own. His trademark style, vigorous colouring followed by a diligent process of scratching the surface with his fingernails, creates a sense of depth, vitality and movement in his work. In addition his art reveals an impeccable sense of colour combination and composition which are always changing, evoking an infinite number of moods. The end product, as you can appreciate, is one of true self-realization.

Featuring art and poetry by persons with autism.

At 43, Mark is a professional artist hoping to win fans with his bright creations, pouring out his thoughts on large slabs of canvas; interpreting the world around him in oils. Mark, who lives in Penarth, turned professional in the late 1990s, finally realising his dream after working a nine-to-five job in which he found few people who had the time to understand him. He says simply, "I have found seeking and keeping employment the single most difficult thing to achieve in my life."

Stefanie is an adult with high functioning Autism. She goes to an art program at Ladders, Inc. which is a school for adults and children with disabilities. Stefanie sells her artwork and speaks about Autism at Conferences and Teacher/Parent Groups.

For all such creative autistic people, until they discover the common coin of meaning to others missing from their work, until our society finds a way of according a different valuation to their work, they will remain in backwater markets making their statements but unable to sell their wares.

(David) Downes has a rare ability to look at a landscape at ground level and then to produce a bird's eye perspective. His work is characterised by intense detail, flashes of humour and dramatic skies.

Our Mission at the McMurray A.R.T.S. Center and Autism Arts is to offer an open window of opportunities for our children, one in which their light can shine through to a broader community.

Where the mind wanders tonight, / I think the corridors have wandered more; / beyond all reasoning light, / beyond the last known and / charted short

From time to time, I write some of my autistic thoughts in poetic form. Here are several poems that I have written .

Blackstock retired in 2001 after 23 years of washing pots at the Washington Athletic Club. This is his first show and won't be his last.

About Adrian Tarpey, Contemporary Irish Artist

In Israel today, estimates are there are 4,000 autistic people; 250 children diagnosed with autistic disorder every year ALUT seeks to help, advocate for them

I built a bridge / out of nowhere, across nothingness / and wondered if there would be something on the other side...

Using the fairytale of "The Red Shoes" as our framework, we set about drawing parallels between the constraints and rules of the autistic world and those imposed upon the little girl in the story.

Art. Design. Objects. As a crafter, maker, and artist, I often struggle with the fact that such a large percentage of "stuff" is destined for the landfill...probably sooner rather than later. Belgian designer Ann de Gersem struggles mightily with these same issues. Trained at Design Academy Eindhoven, de Gerstem has taken up the flag of Experiential Design. Her work is based around objects, but those objects relate to society metaphorically, or in ways outside of the ordinary.

The following pictures have been chosen for their elucidation of the uniquely human experience of deep emotional torment caused by totalitarian physical and emotional abuse.

Severely autistic at 15, Tito Mukhopadhyay -- with special care from his mother, Soma -- finds eloquent expression through writing.

Carlo was born on July 2, 1916 in San Giovanni Lupatoto, near Verona, Italy. He was the sixth child of seven in a family headed by his father, Alessandro, a carpenter.

Cecilia was born in 1981, in Southern California. Even though Cecilia cannot express herself well with words, she loves to draw pictures and take photographs.

A website dedicated to showcasing and promoting the work of an up-and-coming Scottish photographer. Her photography ranges from sea-scapes to close studies of seemingly insignificant yet intricate and fascinating items which Stacey comes across in her day-to-day life.

Oh schizoids of the world, unite / Your body with your soul. / Why settle for a half of life / When you can have the whole?

Nine-year-old Jake Gitterman may not know how much he's impacted the lives of those around him, but what he does know is that he likes "cellular telephones" and "Judge Mathis." At a recent Wine and Jazz fund-raising event held at Freehold's Cornerstone Caffe, the Manalapan resident, who was diagnosed at age 2 with autism, joined his aunt, Marcy Gitterman, in showcasing the artwork of area children with autism. Lined along a back side wall of the Main Street cafe are the original works of 16-year-old Justin Canha, 12-year-old John Goldfarb and 8-year-old Kevin Malokie.

Anyone who thinks that the very idea of a culture of autism is absurd would likely revise their view if they Google the subject, and follow one of the numerous links to discussion groups hosted by and for autistics themselves. The Internet is a prosthesis for many high-functioning autistics; it allows them to lend each other support and to coordinate their efforts to understand and articulate their divergences from the neurological norm. As the work of artists like Nadia, Jonathan Lerman, and Andy Warhol suggests, there may be a ''high culture'' of autism. Far more than insiders would care to admit, the art world might merely be one of its outposts.

The poems of confusion, loneliness and despair of an autistic adult after his parents have passed away.

AMONG those given MBEs in this year's New Year Honours was the artist Stephen Wiltshire. A big success, his immensely detailed cityscapes fly off gallery walls. He is also autistic. But are the two connected?

It is not meant for you to transform me to who you think I should be For God created this soul, and knowingly he create the whole of me

The writers' styles and motives for writing vary, and there has been no attempt to pick only the professional. This allows a range of different voices to be heard, to illustrate the variety of ways in which we view our experiences.

I am an adult with High Functioning autism who loves to create poetry as an outlet to my inner expressions. Poetry is a lost art form and in America it is uncommon to find one who can or attempts to create poetry, but some of the best poets in our history left profound insight to the world in which they lived. The poetry of our past leaves us with unique fashions in which language is used; it leaves strong visual pictures of the way life was in this era, as well as the thinking and insight into human moral and character. Poetry is the melody of life expressed in dancing words.

If we read autistic language with the presumption that the person saying a seemingly non-sensical phrase such as "bedtime orange" is communicating his message; if we take on the responsibility of interpreting flavor tubes and clouds in the sky, we might be able to understand something of what an autistic person, with minimal language and not (or not yet) able to communicate more extensively through typing and writing, is telling us. And reading autistic language as we read poetry, with attention to its tropes and to the music of language--to its meter and rhythm--can offer some clues for interpretation and, most of all, for mutual understanding.

Working entirely by freehand, his catalogs of a wide variety of subjects are executed with precision. Gregory's passion for noise is apparent, as is his love of nature and beauty.

It is memory that plays a dominant role when considering George Widener, both in his personal life and his artwork... He is by and large a self-taught artist who continues to grow and experiment to improve himself.

When Naoki Higashida tries to speak, "the words melt away inside my mouth," he says. So the 13-year-old writes instead. Writing also helps him overcome his disabilities. "When I am writing, I can be a regular child. I can become the characters in the stories and experience all sorts of things," he wrote in one of his books. So far, the junior high school student has had four books published.

Days, haiku, poems, tales, notes, toons, tarot...

You know you're hooked on a woman when you start singing about her. You start saying her name out loud when you're alone, and you start dreaming about her at night. It's happened to me with a waitress named Maria.

Watch things evolve from where they stand, or click in either box to sow seeds of change; enter numbers in boxes and press return to change parameters. The model is a floating-point cellular automata pair, an experiment in neurological modelling, and an automatic generator of beautiful imagery.

Should art of the mentally ill be considered different from other art? The drawings, paintings, collages, digital photos and computer animations by the 17 artists on display at Ricco/Maresca may be distinctive but are hardly alien to those already found in galleries throughout SoHo, Chelsea, Brooklyn and elsewhere. So are these "Outsiders" because of their mental condition?

This page grows from my dream of sharing the way in which I see the world with others, at a reasonable price but one which will allow me to continue putting photos on paper...The pictures on this site are representative, starting with my self-portrait in a bottle stopper on the Home page. They are hardly exhaustive.

Through his chosen medium he is able to communicate complex perceptions of humanity and an extraordinary variety of expression.

Jonathan Lerman is an autistic artist. His has limited verbal ability so we cannot ask what inspires him or what triggered him to suddenly begin drawing at the age of ten. Today, at seventeen, Jonathan is prolific and shows no signs of slowing down.

I suffer from autistic or perhaps Asperger's symptomatology and I have written some short stories, which I would like to share with you on this site. I hope you will read them and I hope you enjoy them.

I have 12 short fiction pieces that I have written and have posted them on this site for your reading pleasure. I think I am unique in that I am one of the few autistic people around to have written any fiction, though I have as yet to write a novel.

Maribel loves creating art of any kind. Her main body of work has involved drawing on fabric, then painting the drawings and then finishing the surface with colorful embroidery stitches. Her work often depicts landscapes, people, and animals. Maribel has no way to verbally express her happiness about artmaking, but her beautiful smile and her exquisite art reflect her joy.

Larry Bissonette is an artist who lives in Milton, Vermont. Since he was a young child, Larry has been drawing and painting. His work has been exhibited regularly in well known local and national exhibitions such as the annual Outside Art Fair in New York City.

It is this notion of ability versus disability that has come to mind after meeting with Larry Bissonnette and Jonathan Lerman in Burlington, Vermont and then Vestal, New York. I visited Larry and Jonathan in order to curate their artwork for the exhibition and upcoming event in October: The Joy of Autism: Redefining Ability and Quality of Life.

It all started with what was supposed to be a quick trip to Mars Development Corp. in Reno to demonstrate the capabilities of our Integrated Cyber Systems prototype, the QR243-B field AI. With one hundred times the computing power of the human brain, an integrated air polymer battery, and numerous power conserving features, the QR243-B is designed for long term use in harsh environments...

Some say I to need to express self, but often in my expressions I to be still misunderstood for the intent of my words and meanings behind them...

Just as there are many causes of autism, there are several treatments that can help autistic people become more aware of the world around them. Mark is an example of someone who has been able to break through some of the barriers of autism.

"When I make art, my images just come, just like the images in a crystal ball. You don't know where the images come from, they just come. What comes may be unexpected, and you may not believe what appears," said N'Diaye.

Why does everyone react to me in such hostile attacking ways? Laughing, scorning and setting my confusion ablaze

Michael Moon was diagnosed as autistic at ages 2, 7 and 30 years of age. He works in a vareity of media including music and photography and works in astrology he says,"because reading novels was so emotionally intense. Reading astrology was not only rational, but it also allowed me to get to know people."

Sunlight tickles my eyes. Dancing dust whirls around me, wrapped in a blanket of ice blue sky.

The Arts for All program at MukiBaum enables children and adults with developmental disabilities to become less marginalized by society's perception of their disability. Through a demonstration of their talents and artistic achievements, they fill the gap of this bias and promote better understanding and acceptance of persons with disabilities and their artistic abilities.

Examination of common behaviors, needs, and interests within autistic adults, primarily focusing on their musical culture, demonstrates autistic individuals have a culture all their own.

ability: 1 a : the quality or state of being able; esp : physical, mental, or legal power to perform; b : competence in doing : SKILL; 2 : natural aptitude or acquired proficiency... It is this notion of ability versus disability that has come to mind after meeting with Larry Bissonnette and Jonathan Lerman yesterday in Burlington, Vermont and then Vestal, New York.

National information dissemination, technical assistance and referral center specializing in the field of arts and disability.

Internationally renowned, Wiltshire was classed by the late Sir Hugh Casson as possibly the best child artist in Britain. He is regarded as one of the most outstanding autistic savants in the world.

This page is here to explain the graphic designs I have created on the theme of autism awareness and advocacy.

Within the most putrid and lifeless places, the human mind has transcended barriers. Be it a prison for the criminal, or the cell for the so-called �insane,� many pieces of political manifesto, literary works, and visual art have been created. Now take the idea of prison to the human mind, or better said, the confines of physical or neurological impairment, or mental state --works of art can express lucid manifestations of those inner workings otherwise mysterious to an outside onlooker. To the person who creates art, the process is a breaking away, a freedom from those confines, either real or imagined. As Van Gogh alluded, art is like birthing an aspect of ourselves in order to become part of a larger whole. In the case of those with complex disabilities, art production is as much of a freedom to be, as it is a by-product of the Self. Many differently-abled individuals have found solace and esteem through art making. As Van Gogh said, art not only makes one a part of humanity, but it calls for the world's interaction with both the art and the artist. For the disabled members of our community, many who have complex disabilities (a series of diagnosis'), art is enablement and a validation.

Is this putting art on a pedestal thereby seeking to sensationalize autism? If we sensationalize autism, or the work of autistic artists in a spotlighted way, are we at risk of perpetuating another myth: autism and genius?

Stone's work, says Wilson, stands on its own. 'His gift is authenticity. He's connected to his inner vision by a lightning rod. He's not self-conscious; he's not responding to other artists' art.'

Ping Lian's artwork stands on its own demonstrating a remarkable artistic ability in an 11 year old boy. His drawings are colorful, cheerful and impressive. Those drawings take on an added significance, however, when one sees that such a-bility co-exists with a dis-ability as described by his mother and teachers. S

All the things I've ever said / All the things I've ever done / Processing, going through my head / From times that are long past and long gone...

Carried by the call of morning I flicker. My battery needs 'recharge.' The beagle pulls wretched me- on his necessary leash. I want to bury my face in the business of the bushes, feeling, sensing, being, one with petal scents.

There is not one person with autism who hasn't told me that there was someone believing and pushing them to succeed (and that success is different for everyone). It is the parent's will to accept this equality of excellence, meaning that we all have a right to work towards and attain it, to accept and believe that everything is possible, even with children who have been diagnosed at the �severe� end of the spectrum.

Requiem for a Banana; The Rabbit; The Adder; The Parrot; Maturity; Birds; Next Time

A lack of connection between cognition and emotion is thought to be one of the features of individuals on the Autism spectrum. Poetry has enabled one individual with Asperger's Syndrome to more fully connect thought to feeling. Poetry may be uniquely suited to this exploration as it uses concrete imagery to evoke emotion. Lisa will present select pieces of her own poetry along with the events that inspired each particular piece and the lessons learned as a result of exploring the poetic imagery.

Lerman has a severe form of autism, a developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder that affects brain functions. Most communication with the outside world is impossible for the New York teen. But in his charcoal portraits, many of which are on display at the Lonsdale Gallery on Spadina Rd., Lerman has found a crack in the walls of his isolation, his many supporters say.

I'm 42, and am relatively new to composing, having begun writing rags in May 2003. I've been interested in ragtime since I was twelve, and have had my own melodies floating around in my head for nearly as long.

Jessica's paintings start with a sketch, whenever possible done at the actual scene. Later she will often refer to a photograph for more detail. Her paints are acrylics; she has 64 tubes of them but she seldom uses a color as it comes from the tube.

Featuring his digital art.

The Raventones are a psychic & sonic freight train, a power-duo forging elements of surf, country, psychedelia, neo-acoustic and prog-rock into a sound they've dubbed "interstellar folkjazz". This tiny band that roars is the brainchild of Oregon musician/writer/artist TR Kelley. With otherworldy intensity and talent directly related to her autism, the enigmatically charming Kelley becomes possessed by leg-shaking gospel-shouting guitar-wrestling bouts of Elvisian frenzy.

A British guy named Colin Warneford sent Pekar a letter. Warneford describes what it's like going through life feeling isolated from the rest of the world due to AS. So Pekar takes the letter, turns it into a script and has Warneford illustrate it.

I specialize, among other things, in still life, landscapes, waterscapes, waterfalls and sculptures in watercolours. My strength lies in a strong mix of colours and a subtle expression of human lives.

Real-life Aspie comix

And Goin' Guidance Lidavell wants to let his lemony tea pour.. In a coffee shop that would make free love in the midst of this new war breaking out of the door... And pray that this new war in Iraq--this stupid war... IS NO MORE.

Talented autistic artist David Downes was today adding the final touches to paintings which will feature in a prestigious London exhibition. David, who has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, paints detailed aerial views of London landscapes without ever leaving the ground. His distinctive work captures the meeting of old and new architecture in the city.

I heard them talking, saying oh, she has autism, a disability of no hope If they only knew what is trapped inside me, I think. They would say she's more like me, than what others think.

I've been gifted with eidetic memory and perfect pitch and the ability to play an instrument or sing harmony with nearly anyone instantaneously in a way that supports and deepens the music.

A new arrival to the Enterprise discovers that she and Spock have a lot in common. Author's Note: This is a story not just about Spock but, in a way, about fans of Spock; it addresses the connections that I suspect bring many of us to identify with him. It is also about one of the human species' most illogical characteristics: unwillingness to accept those who are different from them.

My website contains graphic design and information about Asperger's syndrome. My big passion is graphic shapes with lines, circles, squares etc.

I'm told I have autism, some say I have Asperger's syndrome (it's very similar). Maybe it is the reason I have been drawing since the age of 5 and I have always been fascinated by big cities and aeroplanes. In 1984, I started to be interested by the conception of an imaginary city called Urville. The name came from "Dumont d'Urville", a scientific base, in a French territory of the Antarctic. Since then, I made many (200) drawings of Urville, and I wrote a historical, geographical, cultural and economic description. I also have a book project, called "Urville Sightseeing Tour" that I'd love to publish. My greatest pleasure is to be invited to give a lecture on Urville because I can make it exist!

Welcome to my story page! Make yourself at home on my starship and help yourself to whatever you'd like from the replicator. These stories are amateur works of fan fiction. They are not for profit, and no copyright infringement is intended. Star Trek and its characters are the property of Paramount.

Although the sun is out today / As west winds come from far away, / I think I'll go down to the bay / To see a far horizon...

Trees are also the voice for the Wind. They capture the Wind's words and speak them aloud for us to hear. The Wind dances from one part of the earth to another. He knows the fast and the slow, the large and the small.