During this past fall, Professor Bill Davis of Western Michigan University taught a class that brought together college artists and area students on the autism spectrum.  My son, Jacob, was lucky to be one of the participants in the project.  Last week, the class had their exhibition featuring WMU students’ art as well as work from Jacob and his peers in the Young Adult Program at the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) West Campus Building in Kalamazoo.  I invite you to visit the website describing the project/class.  The site has links to the publication (Autism & Visual Art) produced from the class.  (See the Program Outcomes link .)  The front page of the book includes Jacob’s dinosaur drawing.  On the exhibit image, he drew Peanuts characters, Snoopy and Woodstock, on the back of the dinosaur.  Smiling, he explained that they were his “cave-dog” and “cave-bird” figures!

I was also interviewed for the project and the site includes a brief part of the discussion.  In the excerpt, I try to express that, in the rich range of human neurodiversity, we are all somewhere on the spectrum.

Thanks to Bill and his class for this wonderful initiative!