Scientists still don't quite know what goes on inside the mind of an autistic child despite a growing amount of attention being focused on the condition and funding being funneled toward research. A new exhibit at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Global Health Odyssey Museum in Atlanta is attempting to provide a few answers, however, even if they are of the nonscientific sort.
Conceived by three Atlanta-area autism advocacy groups, “Recognizing Talents and Abilities” is a monthlong exhibit of painted tiles created by autistic artists ages 4 to 22. The 64 ceramic canvases include works that range from impressionism and abstract to bright and vibrant and dark and moody, says Melody Stevens, a public health analyst with the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
The exhibit was conceived by artist David Peterson, who installed the tiles like a color spectrum, which, Stevens says, is intended to represent the autism spectrum. While Peterson came up with the idea for painted tiles and created the installation, the artists were 100% responsible for the themes they chose, Stevens says.
The ceramic tiles will be on display until May 28, after which they will be available for purchase by the public at $150 each. The funds will go to support the Marcus Autism Center's artist-in-residence program, the Spectrum Autism Support Group and the Greater Georgia Chapter of the Autism Society of America—the three groups that collaborated on the exhibit.
