CHALK~TALK!! - Autism Hwy

SILKE HEYER 2012

Wow…in 5 weeks we will be enjoying Our 4th AutismHWY.com Chalk Festival!! What an awesome evolution it has been. From a small hamburger joint parking lot in Azusa California in April 2011…

KELLY & AUSTIN GREEN 2011

…to the beautiful downtown park , Heritage Plaza in Covina California 2014. Heritage. I love that word and the concept it describes. We all have tribes, we are connected to and each tribe has it’s own heritage told by the tribe’s elders. Often times a heritage becomes lost or unknown or sadly distorted by the “storytelling” of others. This is the case for Autistic people. A lot of the now generation believe more in the future and less in the past. Many young people seem uninterested in heritage. From our vantage point, this is a big mistake. Causing many a problem we see in the dismissive attitudes people have concerning another’s cultural heritage. It’s a timeless situation mired in eons of egos.

We are tired of this age-old scenario and believe it is a new day for us all. We are committed to write new stories about ourselves, minus the egos that weight us down. How’s that for a novel concept? NEW STORIES about Autistic culture from our tribe elders. Re-writing where we are and where we are going as a Community. An Autistic community of many colors, shapes and sizes, yet a glorious tribe ALL OF THE SAME! New voices from new friends. Defining how and where we fit in. Not allowing others that do not truly understand Autism to define and control our history. Breathing the old/new way in. Learning from our tribe elders.

Celebrating Autistic life and helping others to see the many faceted bright lights that reveals!

A TRUE AUTISTIC RENAISSANCE!

Kelly Green 2014 ………….RESPECTING POWERFUL DIFFERENCES

Light us up amazing! This 4th year event solidifies US! Solidifies partnerships with our wonderful sponsor Autism Movement Therapy and our pARTners at The Art of Autism and Normal Films. So many talented Artistic friends like ( Joel Anderson and Dani Bowman!) that have joined our merry troup. Such friendship and most importantly free expression to the world! Free from the people that hate our differences or have been trained to fear and avoid our differences. Free from people extinguishing behaviors and not reading communication. Our Chalk Art Festival has become a great gathering of people. People working to teach people an innerstanding of AUTISM. A day to share these tribal differences we have and lo learn what works best for our clan, in order to be comfortable with all clans. Learning from those that have been there done that! The most effective way for people to innerstand Autism. Through it’s amazing elders and icons. Building the concept of Autistic culture and history by exposing people to it. From the Albert Einstein’s, Isaac Newton’s, Nikola Tesla’s and the Michaelangelo’s of the past to some of the many modern day icons like Dr. Temple Grandin, Stephen Wiltshire, Kim Peak, Dr. Stephen Shore and Donna Williams, to the Autistic thinkers and artists of the future like Jacob Barnett and Kevin Hosseini! When given the supports needed the sky is the limit for our population! Autistic adults are out here raising their own families. Many working tirelessly to further their own educations and that of society! I am in awe of what I see in the Autistic community. Learning from our history by gathering the wisdoms of our tribe elders ~Autistic adults like our children that experience the world differently, infinitely Autistically.

That sounds pragmatically magical if you ask me!

SILKE HEYER’S HANDY BAG WORK!

This FUN DAY of recognition, RESPECT and acceptance commences Saturday April 12th at 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. A day full of amazing free flowing ART, info, MUSIC and pure love. Your senses will be aroused and we will have Autistic safe space for those that become too aroused and need to wind down. Tribal elders and tribal tots to everything in between. Mother’s Father’s, sister’s, brother’s, friends and all others~we are an amazing team branching out to our community!

For serious Artists prize money will be won. in categories like: best of show, Autistic pride design, crowd favorite, best use of color and best animation. Trevor Aycox will be doing his “spray paint” ART! The amazingly fun Chalkmobile will be there for children to color in. Food trucks and snacks. There will be loads of useful information, great connections to be made, friendships to be grown and love being shared…. PLUS lots of sweet swag that everyone will bag!

If you cannot travel to this year’s event we encourage you to start small in your own community just as we did. Empower this fresh new seed of Autistic truth to grow love and goodwill in your own backyards! CREATE Autistic solidarity by chalking wherever you stand in this world the 2nd Saturday every April! Start out in your yard, your school and reach further out into your communities spreading…