In 1998 my youngest brother, Kelton, was diagnosed with autism, a developmental disability that affects communication and social interaction. Autism currently affects 1/88 people in the United States. Kelton is a talented individual who runs cross-country and track, wrestles, plays the drums, loves history, and collects bobble heads and keychains.

This year Kelton decided to enroll in his first art class where he discovered his skill for drawing. His unorthodox style made me reconsider my artwork and examine the differences and similarities that exist between our perspectives. According to Paul Collins’ Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism, artists are four times more likely to have autism in their families. Considering the number of artists in my family, this statistic made me question the similarities that exist between Kelton and me. For this reason, we have decided to draw one of his 6,481 keychains a day for one year. These drawings will be as simple and uninhibited as possible. This project will explore our individual perspectives and examine the similarities that exist between us as artists.

Day 210

Saturday, April 16, 2011




"National Autism Awareness Month: 9 Poignant Books," an article from The Huffington Post, lists influential books about autism. Pictured above are two of the nine. Check it out! article

1. Thinking in Pictures And Other Reports from My Life with Autism
Temple Grandin
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
3. Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Daniel Tammet
4. Atypical: Life with Asperger's in 20 1/3 Chapters
Jesse A. Saperstein
5. Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian
John Elder Robinson
6. Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism
Jenny McCarthy
7. How to be a Sister: A Love Story with a Twist of Autism
Eileen Garvin
8. One of Us: A Family's Life with Autism
Mark Osteen
9. The Ride Together: A Brother and Sister's Memoir of Autism in the Family
Paul & Judy Karasik
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