Autistry Studios Featured on SF Gate

Check out the great blog post by Laura Shumaker at SF Gate! Word is spreading about Autistry Studios.  We got a call from a woman in Australia yesterday who wants to start a program there.  We would love to go Down Under!

The Summer Intensive Workshop is very intense – lots of fun, loads of energy and great projects happening. This is the first time we have done a workshop with a theme – What’s in My Mind.  Each student is building a box diorama about themselves or what they’re thinking about.  Strange thoughts in these lovely little heads!  Check out the photos on the Flickr page.

Summer is moving along very quickly and we will be posting the fall workshop schedule this weekend. Please check back and get in touch as the classes fill up very fast.

Save these dates:  The Ryder Foundation is holding their annual fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 11th. They are huge supporters of Autistry Studios so please come if you can.  This year features Jenny McCarthy and her Funny Friends.

And the next Autistry Studios Spin-a-Thon will be on Sunday, October 17th.  Put the date on your calendar – we will send more information soon.

Michael, Christine, Dan and Janet

The first Autistry Studios fundraiser was a huge success. We raised over $6000 for our Opportunity Fund which will help us provide services in this difficult economic time. Huge THANK YOU to Michael and Christine Lopez, owners of the Body Image Personal Fitness Center for donating their gym for an entire day! And another huge THANK YOU to Tom and Laura McCarty for hosting a marvelous backyard BBQ after the Spin. Tom is a master grill-sergeant and James pours a mean Italian Soda. We all had such a great time that we are planning the Fall Spin-a-Thon in October – we’ll keep you posted.

Autistry Studios staff has been invited to present Supporting ASD Youth in Transition: The Autistry Studios Model at Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking Providers Conference on Saturday June 26th.

The Winter/Spring workshop sessions are winding down and most projects are either being completed or coming to a good place to pause. We will be meeting informally a few times this summer to stay in touch. The Fall 2010 workshops will begin in early August. We are actively looking for a new space and have found several great possibilities so we may be spending the summer creating a new home for Autistry Studios.

Friday College Support and Build Stuff with Dan: Ian G. joined our group and is working on a small diorama based on War Hammer figures. Kris discovered the joys of working with epoxy putty and created details for his tank. Sarah is making a costume for the Fanime Convention later this month. Ross is studying for his finals and programming his robot. Corey made a list of “must-see” films that he will watch and blog about this summer.

Saturday Film Stuff with Nate: Owen animated Ketinga the Cat and will drew several new pictures for his short 2D animation project. Devon and Steven are now on the same page, in the same program with their characters talking to each other – no small feat. Andrew raised the walls on his roadside Rush diner and will be putting the shingles on the roof next week.

Sunday Build Stuff with Dan: Daniel S. joined the Sunday group and he is making a fabulous piece of chest armor. He is prototyping it using sheet plastic with plans to use fiberglass for the finished project.  Sawyer poured concrete to reinforce the walls of his fort and added some fierce looking spikes. Ryan is making several cool buildings for his train layout. Ian put belts on his Kung Fu fighters and his dojo is nearly done!

Tuesday Build Stuff with Dan: Breton is doing all the little details that make Elf World so wonderful – the brass door hinges, the flickering light in the tree house, the exterior finishing. Erik laid the track for his historic Sausalito train station. Rinny is mastering Vegas Pro, the video editing software, as she creates her complex stop action promotion film for Sweet Wishes From Oz.

Ian with Michael Lopez

Mill Valley, CA. April 13, 2010 – The owners and staff of Body Image Personal Fitness Center are spinning their wheels to support a vital new program for local youth and adults on the autism spectrum. Join them on Sunday, April 25th, for a Spin-a-Thon for Autistry Studios from 10a.m. through 3 p.m.

Michael and Christine Lopez, avid runners and owners of Body Image, became familiar with the program several years ago when autistic teen Ian Swearingen and his parents joined the gym. “We are thrilled to support Autistry Studios and the great work they are doing with the kids,” says Christine Lopez. “Ian loves to spin, loves the music and the exercise. He has become a regular here at Body Image.”

Ian’s parents, Dan Swearingen and Janet Lawson founded Autistry Studios to help teens and young adults on the autism spectrum become successful independent adults. “There are many programs and services for young children with autism,” says Janet, “but there are very few for teens and adults.” Their unique approach is generating a great deal of excitement as agencies across the nation search for ways to help this ever-growing population. The program offers Build Stuff and Filmmaking Workshops, where participants strengthen their social, academic, and work skills as they complete projects of their own design. Dan and Janet also provide college support.

Body Image Personal Fitness Center

The Spin-a-Thon is a series of five 1-hour spin classes led by Body Image instructors. Michael Lopez will lead off the day at 10am followed by Duncan Binihakis, Jen Ogg, Yasmine Shamsian, and Autistry’s own Dan Swearingen.

Suggested donations are $40/hour for adults and $20/hour for teens (13-18). All proceeds go to the Autistry Studios Opportunity Fund to enable lower-income families to join the program.

To register call: (415) 945-9788.

Body Image Personal Fitness Center is located at 25 Reed Blvd, Mill Valley.

Contact:

Janet Lawson, Executive Director
Autistry Studios
(415) 945-9788
www.AutistryStudios.com
janet@AutistryStudios.com

NEWS FLASH: We’ve been invited to present a 45 minute multimedia ‘poster’ session – Supporting ASD Youth in Transition: The Autistry Studios Model – at Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking Providers Conference in June. She had lots of applicants so we are thrilled to have been asked. The event will be Saturday, June 26th. We’ll send out more info closer to the day.

SPIN UPDATE: The Sunday, April 25th Spin-a-Thon fundraiser for Autistry Studios is just 2 weeks a way. The first hour, 10am – 11am taught by Michael Lopez is now full. There are still bikes, treadmills and ellipticals available in the other classes.

Ian and Michael Lopez

10am: Michael Lopez (FULL)
11am: Duncan Binihakis
12:00: Jen Ogg
1pm: Yasmine Shamsian
2pm: Dan Swearingen

The funds raised will be used in our Opportunity Fund which allows us to offer services on a sliding scale to lower income families.

Friday College Support and Build Stuff with Dan: Corey, Sarah and Ross joined Janet and Nate for a presentation to Pamela Wolfberg’s Autism Spectrum Program. We spoke to 30 graduate students about Autistry Studios and what it’s like to live on the spectrum. It was a great experience for us and for them! And a lot of progress was made on projects this week. Sarah finished Hugo’s dog bed – we are waiting for photos of him curled up on his plush cushion. Ross sorted hundreds of Lego Mindstorm pieces into bins ready for assembling the robot. Corey airbrushed a first coat of paint onto the Scooby-Doo van. Kris applied for a job and applied paint to the tank.

Saturday Film Stuff with Nate: Devon animated her character Kuro using Anime Studio 6. She really challenged herself to learn the new software but she got Kuro talking. Steven has a few more drawings to do and then his characters will be ready to join Kuro. Andrew has finished the foundation structure for his roadside diner diorama and will be cutting the planks for the walls soon. Owen, our latest Autistry recruit is proving to be our most prolific. He has made hundreds of drawings for his epic piece, Party in Fizzletown.

Sunday Build Stuff with Dan The trains are now running on Ryan’s layout. He finished the wiring and is now ready to create the scenery and some buildings. Ian, with a bit of help from AJ, created 6 copper wire martial artists. They are now working on the uniforms (gis) and belts which they will do in clay. Sawyer built the walls on the citadel of his fantasy world – it is really taking shape. The diorama is based on a world of Sawyer’s creation and the construction is his own design!

Tuesday Build Stuff with Dan: Rinny finished principal photography for her project and will begin editing at our next workshop. Breton is planning the last details on Elf World and will be finished in the next few weeks. Erik painted the foundation of his historical Sausalito diorama and experimented with cement casting. Janet experimented with a new recipe for gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, mushroom burgers. The result was very sloppy Sloppy Joes!

Hope you all have a nice Spring Break!

-Janet, Dan, Nate and AJ

A high quality PDF of Autism Enters Adulthood with pictures.

The Ryder Foundation provides funding to organizations that research the environmental causes of autism and effectively treat afflicted children.

We have been asked to do a more “summer day-camp” kind of thing for our teenagers this summer so we’re trying a couple two-week-five-days-a-week intensive camps. See the Summer 2010 page for details.

Stay tuned: Our late-teen/young adults will have a different program and we’ll keep our older folks going all summer.

Please join us for our first fundraiser – the Spin-a-Thon. This will be held on Sunday April 25th from 10am to 3pm. You can sign up for an hour or more of great exercise on stationary bikes (elliptical machines and treadmills are also available). The event is hosted by Michael Lopez at his wonderful gym – Body Image located at 25 Reed Boulevard in Mill Valley (just across the street from Janet’s office!).

The current workshops are just amazing. Lots of wonderful projects.

Friday College Support and Build Stuff with Dan: Kris and Sarah have been studying hard and doing great in school. Both of them have joined the Alpha Gamma Sigma honor society. Kris continues to work on his tank diorama and Sarah has two bits of velcro to attach to the dogbed and it will be ready for Hugo. Corey is building a model of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. He is also working here as a workshop assistant. Ross is designing a robot and learning Java programming. Hard to keep up with this group!

Saturday Film Stuff with Nate: We are all embarking on new projects. Steven and Devon are working together on an animated short film featuring their characters talking to each other. It is a great mixing of styles and promises to be a great little piece. Andrew is taking his Rush Limbaugh theme to a new level – the Casa Rush – the Road Side Diner. This is a very imaginative diorama reminiscent of the Doggie Diner, The Brown Derby, Paul Bunyan Cafe and other classic American eateries.

Sunday Build Stuff with Dan: Sawyer has joined the Sunday group. He is creating a diorama based on a role-playing game he is developing. The game world is very detailed, complex and quite wonderful. Ryan’s trains are running on the switch track layout so his wiring works! He is now adding balast to the track, landscape detail and structures. Ian has created a series of copper wire figures in Tae Kwon Do poses for his dojo. He plans to cover them with clay so that each figure is wearing a traditional martial arts uniform – but I like them just the way they are!

Tuesday Build Stuff with Dan: The Tuesday folks are becoming quite the culinary connoisseurs. We are experimenting with the gluten free/dairy free/vegetarian class menu. So far the quiche and biscuits are the most popular (although this week’s Snickerdoodles were a big hit). Rinny has now screen tested most of the important pieces for her short film promo for Sweet Wishes From Oz and is ready to move into production. Erik is building a model inspired by the Sausalito passenger station on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in the 1920’s or 1930’s. Breton’s Elf World is becoming a thing of true beauty – very detailed with lots of depth. He discovered that loose leaf tea makes a great ground cover – who would have guessed?

The summer 2010 schedule will be posted very soon. We will be doing a couple of 2-week immersive workshops (Monday – Friday). And a 1-week life skills camp. We’re just working out the details!

Our Spring resolution is to post newsletters more often! To see more pictures of the workshops visit the Autistry Photo Gallery.

-Janet, Dan, Nate, and AJ

We found several sets of photos to upload so the photo galleries have been updated.

We had a great time at the Tommy Castro concert benefiting the Ryder Foundation. Corey, Kris, Sarah, Janet, Kitty and Diane danced to some fabulous blues tunes. All agreed that we need to do more outings. So, let’s think about excursions, events and adventures that might be cool for us to do together: movies, concerts, museums, biking/hiking, etc. There are endless possibilities very close to home.

Fanime 2010 in San Jose at the end of May: We sent out information about the cosplay costuming workshop and a group trip to the Fanime convention. Please let us know as soon as you can if you would like to do this. We need to get everyone registered for the workshop and/or the convention as well as figure out the transportation. Email us for more info.

Marin Autism Collaborative Annual Meeting: Saturday March 6th, San Rafael. Dr David Amaral, Director of Research at UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute will be the keynote speaker. He is a great speaker with lots of information. (see flyer for more details)

Janet and Matt Tarver-Walquist will be hosting the Transition Years break-out session at the MAC meeting and we encourage all our Autistry families to attend. We are inviting school personnel, families and service providers to come together to discuss how we can support our ASD children not just in their transition out of high school but throughout their lives.

Temple Grandin at the Matrix Author Luncheon: We are putting together Autistry Studios tables for this event. If you would like to sit with us please email Janet soon.

Other news: there is an AMAZING pollen dump happening and our whole neighborhood is covered in yellow/green pollen.

The biggest news: the doorbell is fixed!

See you all soon! ~ Janet, Dan, Nate, and AJ

Friday College Support and Build Stuff with Dan: We were all very happy to have Sarah rejoin the group. She is finishing up the dog bed she designed for her puppy. Phoebe has finished the columns, the figures and the base for the Ramses II diorama and is putting all the pieces together now. Kris is assembling a multi-piece tank. And, Corey is designing a new project – The Yellow Brick Road. Special note: Both Kris and Sarah made the Honor Roll at College of Marin – big congratulations!!

Saturday Film Stuff with Nate: Wow – all 3 film projects are finished and posted on YouTube. Andrew did a fabulous parody of Rush Limbaugh using Rush’s own words (hey, it is tough to sound more Rush than Rush). Devon completed her mini-documentary on Steven. We were all very proud of how she dealt with the seemingly endless music copyright issues. In the end, she found some public domain music which, though not as perfect as her first choices, added a great soundtrack to the piece. Steven finished Part 2 of his Bupim Epic – and a big thank you to his brother Danny for the voice over! All three of these films were written and directed by the students themselves – a huge achievement.

*Andrew’s Rush to Judgment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McNhea0Zn-w
*Devon’s Interview with Steven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbo12Io7gsQ
*Steven’s Bupim’s Quest II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht2332fV550

Sunday Build Stuff with Dan: Ryan has finished his science project and is now devoting his time to his Switching Yard. The tracks are all laid down and he is now soldering the wires so that he can run the trains remotely. Ian is nearly finished with the Dojo. He and AJ are making lots of Kung Fu Fighters out of clay that they will use to stage scenes and create a stop-motion animated short film. It was snowing pink foam on Sunday as Paul rasped the Halo helmet rounding out the edges – it looks great!

Tuesday Build Stuff with Dan: The Tuesday class is just getting started and we are looking forward to creating some awesome projects. Rinny will be working on a stop-motion animated short announcing the publication of her latest novel, Sweet Wishes From Oz. She did a practice piece last week to learn the process. It was so cool we posted it on YouTube too! (It is very, very short – like 4 seconds). Breton is putting the finishing touches on Elf World – a project with lots of loving detail.

To see more photos from the classes check out the Photo Gallery Page!

See you all this weekend!
Janet, Dan, Nate, and AJ