Autistry Studios Newsletter – September 21, 2009
Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on September 21, 2009
We had a very full and exciting weekend here. Everyone did such a great job at the Marin Autism Resource Fair. The phone has been ringing with families wanting to know more about the Autistry programs. Huge thank yous to Kris, Sarah, Breton, Corey and Steven for staffing the table and being such awesome ambassadors. We’ve had lots of feedback from folks saying they were very impressed with how our students articulated the goals of the program and people raved about the projects. If you guys would like to do this again:
GGRC Resource Fair: We will be having a table at the GGRC Resource Fair, Wednesday, October 28th, Hollis Hall, Marin Office of Education, 1111 Las Gallinas Ave, San Rafael. The fair goes from 3pm to 7pm. Janet will be co-hosting a parent networking session with Stephanie Stein of Matrix. There will also be a workshop on transition planning given by Support For Families of San Francisco. I have heard great things about this workshop so those of you in high school may want to attend.
Our new Filmmaking and Build Stuff Workshops got off to great starts – new faces and new projects.
Filmmaking with Nate: Two new students, Andrew and William, joined Steven and Devon for this new series of classes. Nate and Janet will be working hard to keep up with these very creative and ambitious film projects:
Steven – Bupim’s Quest continues with new adventures and some new characters. But the real question remains: will Bupim finally get a background…or will he be left forever in the land of gray.
Devon – is working on an original story. She has honed her skills at sketching and film editing and will now challenge herself to create her own narrative. She is also adding color to her pencil drawings.
William – will recreate the Battle of Okehazama in this first of several short films based on The Samurai Warrior video game. William is considering stop-motion and shadow play as ways to portray this epic battle which took place in Japan in 1560.
Andrew – is taking Autistry Studios in a new direction with his political satire. He is creating a hand puppet theater piece starring Rush Limbaugh! And there may be guest appearances by Bill O’Reilly.
Build Stuff with Dan: Two more new students joined us on Sunday, Joseph and Zach. Dan is busy ordering new tools to help with their great ideas. But, as we all know, Dan is always on the look out for a reason to buy new tools!
Zach – will be building a Stirling Engine. In 1818, Robert Stirling came up with the idea of using alternating hot and cool air to create an external combustion engine.
Corey – is finishing up the Harvey Milk diorama and is already thinking about a new project. He is also helping the two younger students with their projects.
Joseph – What a great brother! Joseph is making a tall, narrow chest to hold his sister’s Karate belts. This chest will stand almost 3 feet high and has 5 shelves.
Ian – Forever the Kung Fu fighter! Ian is making a diorama of the dojo from The Matrix. He has sized it to fit on the bookshelf (12″ x 10″).
The College Support Group is evolving as we learn what the students need and how best to help them. We are adding a section of project building to the workshop to give students a productive break time.
We have also created an Autistry Studios page on Facebook– check it out by clicking here!
All the best, Janet, Dan, and Nate
Congratulations to the growing and highly enthusiastic Autistry Studios community, I’m so excited for the many new developments and now the new participants bringing their own creative interests into the community!