{"id":5380,"date":"2025-11-09T21:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T05:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10124\/?p=5380"},"modified":"2025-11-15T22:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:51:18","slug":"autistry-update-engaging-autistic-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/?p=5380","title":{"rendered":"Autistry Update: Engaging Autistic Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#6304f3\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Here is a brief introductory <\/mark><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=d_PH0N-OazI\">video<\/a> <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#6a02f2\" class=\"has-inline-color\">about Autistry, <\/mark>and <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#6a02f2\" class=\"has-inline-color\">a <a href=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/rec\/share\/rZM6Eu8fmhCkAln-i_jnoulUyck8bo90PJXdeNScYPFRqtL631pLiyATQacFe_3t.dPlLMxgLlp6c1_JW?startTime=1763231066000\">recording<\/a> of the following program.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/autistrystudios.com\"><strong>Autistry Studios<\/strong><\/a> in San Rafael CA has been a powerhouse of creativity by and for autistic young adults  since 2008. The Autistry program empowers neurodivergent teens and adults through project-based learning, vocational training, and community integration.<strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#f70101\" class=\"has-inline-color\"> This Saturday<\/mark><\/strong> <strong>Nov 15,<\/strong> <span style=\"color:#ff0000\"><strong>A<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#ff6600\"><strong>A<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#ff9900\"><strong>S<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#008000\"><strong>C<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#33cccc\"><strong>E<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#3366ff\"><strong>N<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#993366\"><strong>D&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span> presents, online via Zoom, Autistry co-founder <strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#f70202\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Janet Lawson, <\/mark><\/strong>bringing us up to date on Autistry programs, including developments as they expand into new locations. This program is a model of ways to engage autistic ability at any age. As Temple Grandin put it, \u201cI love this positive approach to working with autistic individuals.\u201d  Please come with questions you have about this resource and its approach.<br><br><span style=\"color:#8B4513\"><strong>The Zoom link to this presentation will be emailed <span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"color:#8B4513\"><strong>as the date approaches<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span>, <span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"color:#8B4513\"><strong>to people on our mailing list. There is no need to register for the event.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/span>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/aascend.us4.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=45b240034405a1b47948a710d&amp;id=a3632f7d57\">here<\/a> to subscribe to our mailing list if you aren&#8217;t already on it. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"412\" height=\"493\" src=\"http:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Janet-Lawson-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5384\" style=\"width:306px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Janet-Lawson-1.png 412w, https:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Janet-Lawson-1-251x300.png 251w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 412px) 100vw, 412px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Janet Lawson is a nationally respected leader in autism services. With her background in theater and film, and as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Janet has built a career at the intersection of clinical practice, education, creativity, and advocacy. Inspired by her son Ian, who is on the autism spectrum, she co-founded Autistry in 2008 with Ian\u2019s father, Dan Swearingen, to fill a critical gap in post-secondary opportunities for autistic young adults. What began as four students working on projects in her backyard has grown under her leadership into a thriving organization serving dozens of families every year in a therapeutic makerspace with classrooms, a vocational caf\u00e9, theater rehearsal space, animation studio, and makers-market providing real-world job experience and independence training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through Autistry, Janet Lawson has created a model of possibility and dignity proving that when you meet people where they are and nurture their interests, they can build meaningful lives, careers, and community connections. <span style=\"font-size:14px\"><strong><br><br>Who: Adults on the spectrum, family, professionals and friends all welcome!<\/strong><\/span><br><strong>When: <span style=\"color:#ff0000\">Saturday, Nov 15, 2025 at 10:00 AM<\/span><\/strong><br><strong>Where: <span style=\"color:#ff0000\">Online via Zoom,&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size:13px\">Link will be emailed as the date approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contact info@aascend.org with any questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is a brief introductory video about Autistry, and a recording of the following program. Autistry Studios in San Rafael CA has been a powerhouse of creativity by and for autistic young adults since 2008. The Autistry program empowers neurodivergent &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aascend.org\/?p=5380\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}