Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that causes lifelong disability and impairs the capacity to interact and communicate with others. It is also associated with repetitive stereotyped behaviors, such as spinning, obsessively arranging objects, or following very specific routines. Many people with this disability were previously labeled retarded because of their difficulty with communication and it is rare that a person with this type of mental challenge is able to live independently. One such person is Dr. Temple Grandin, who overcame her disability to succeed as an engineer despite being diagnosed with autism. The following is an excerpt from her book “Thinking In Pictures” describing her obsessions as a child.

 

 

 “Rocking and spinning were other ways to shut out the world when I became overloaded with too much noise. Rocking made me feel calm. It was like taking an addictive drug. The more I did it, the more I wanted to do it. My mother and my teachers would stop me so I could get back in touch with the rest of the world. I also loved to spin, and I seldom got dizzy. When I stopped spinning, I enjoyed the sensation of watching the room spin.”1

 

In the U.S., autism is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls.21 to 1.5 million Americans are autistic and the occurrence of autism is on the rise. During the 1990’s, the incidence of autism increased by 172%, and autism now costs $90 billion annually with 90% of costs in adult services.3 Fortunately, the cost of lifelong care can be reduced two thirds with early diagnosis and intervention.

 

 

My son Kelile has severe autism. Although he appears to be a physically normal child, he is unable to speak, write or sign. His is obsessed with bubbles, spinning and playing with fuzz. These are typical fixative behaviors of autistics. The exhibition Bubbles, Spinning and Fuzz is a series of paintings, drawings and video clips that are intended to create a portrait of Kelile. He cannot fully be described by just one picture. I wanted to include the things that he is obsessed with alongside the pictures of him, and to augment the exhibit with the video clips. Throughout this project, my objective has been to bring Kelile’s world to light.

 

 

 

 

—I used my Olympus Camedia 5.0 mega pixel C-50 zoom camera to shoot the video clips and I made the paintings and drawings from photographs I had taken. I chose watercolor to make the paintings because I enjoy the way the paint bleeds, runs, and splatters to ‘accidentally’ make forms and shapes. Each painting is an adventurous experiment since it is not easy to correct or paint over mistakes. I was challenged to control the medium to produce successful artwork. The finished drawings are made on watercolor paper; I like the look of the roughly textured paper. The use of video clips is new for me. The clips were saved as QuickTime documents, then modified and joined in Final Cut Express into one looping video. These different illustrative and display elements provide a variety of views that takes the viewer into Kelile’s world of bubbles, spinning and fuzz.

1 Grandin, Thinking In Pictures, (Vintage Books), 1995, pgs. 44-45.

2 autismspeaks.org. Retrieved 5 April 2006 from http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/index.php

3 autism-society.org. Retrieved 5 April 2006 from http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Autism_Facts