Posted By Janet Lawson, MFT on December 12, 2011

2011 was the year of new spaces. 2012 will be the year of the new faces!

Our Autistry team is growing again. We welcome Caitlin O’Brien, an LPCC intern with an MA in Psychology from Antioch University. Caitlin is interested in Art Therapy and PhotoTherapy, the use of photography as a means of communication. She is also interested in gluten-free/dairy-free cooking so she will fit right in at the Autistry lunch table.

Jeremy Gaunt joins us as a workshop assistant. Jeremy is a talented model builder, RPG gamer, and has lots of experience with the business side of things (like accounting!). Jeremy will be a great asset as we set up the accounting infrastructure to support the launch of our Autistry enterprises. Jeremy also knows his way around a workshop filled with power tools – always a plus at Autistry.

Melissa Diaz-Infante will co-lead with Courtenay Bell our first Puppet Theater Workshop beginning Saturday January 7th. Melissa worked for several years at Art Institute of California. She is well known for her theater work with Bindlestiff, the San Francisco based Filipino American performing arts center. Melissa brings a wide array of talents to Autistry and we are all looking forward to helping her create puppets with attitude.

TALKING ABOUT AUTISTRY: There have been several news articles recently about Autistry Studios. The latest was the November 23rd article in the Tiburon Ark. Reporter Michelle Aschwald interviewed one of our students, Jon Wootton and together they did a great job of describing the Autistry program. Unfortunatly the article is not online.

Tyler Barbee also came to Autistry and interviewed Janet about autism and life as a mother of a son with autism. This was a project for a high school class but the questions he asked came from his heart and Janet responded with honest, heart-felt answers:

SUPPORTING AUTISTRY: We have posted our Holiday Wish List. The Autistry workshops are always in need of supplies and equipment. Many of you have asked how you can help so we put together a wish list on Amazon. Purchases do not need to be made at Amazon and they have provided a link to confirm outside purchases so they will be reflected on the list. There is a wide range of choices from saw blades to KitchenAides!

Also, The Miranda Lux Foundation has just offered Autistry Studios a $10,000 matching grant. Please help us meet this exciting challenge. Our services are expensive to provide and the program costs exceed the fees that we charge families. Fundraising efforts such as this are essential for us to provide services to all of our families. If you have been considering an end-of-year donation to Autistry this would be a great time to do it.

Donations can be made online on our website:
http://www.autistrystudios.com/blog/index.php/donate/

Or, sent to our office at:

Autistry Studios
137 Granada Drive
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Donations are tax deductible to the extent your tax situation allows. Pledges made now count toward the matching grant and may be paid at a later date and count towards either the 2011 or 2012 tax year.

Happy Holidays from the Autistry Team!

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This entry was posted by Janet Lawson, MFT on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 11:57 am and is filed under Studio Newsletters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.