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 357




For the rest of the project I'm going to have a few people in Kelt's life
write guest posts. This entry is by our Mom about Kelt's first day of college.

Today Kelton was tested in math and English at Whatcom Community College through the Adult Basic Education Program. The instructors told him that no one fails; the school just wanted to determine his academic level, but I knew that he had to have a minimum score to be accepted into the program. He ended up barely meeting the requirements and passed at the lowest level.

Before the test I felt negative about Kelton attending the community college because I didn't think it was the best way for us to use our time. My husband was being the positive one, which is a role reversal for us. I felt less anxious after Kelton passed the test, we went through orientation, registered for his two classes, and paid our $25 quarter fee. Once this process was over I realized that my concerns came from the fear that he wouldn't meet the course requirements and be disappointed that he couldn't take any academic courses at the college. Even though these classes aren't for credit, he doesn't know that and will feel like he's in college.

So our new adventure with Kelton begins and hopefully it's a positive one. There are always obstacles we have to overcome.

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