an autistic savant and activist with savant skills in the arts. I am a future animation character designer and concept artist. I have one movie, and 2 TV shows I’ve been working on for a couple of years that I hope to sell to animation studios.

On Father’s Day in 2000, my talent of drawing was born, I was 3 years old when my mom put a Father’s Day card in front of me to make my mark but instead, I drew my dad’s face from that day on , I became obsessed with drawing faces. I drew my mom’s face, my dad’s face, my sister Gracie’s face. When I ran out of paper, I draw on the walls, floors, and then rolled out the toilet paper and started drawing on it too.

At age 6, I met David Mehnert who was the founder of Savant Academy, an organization featured on 60 minutes. I did my first professional work for the savant academy and created their logo. David Mehnert became my mentor for the next 7 years of my life. During this time I had two art shows in Claremont. I did fundraising for Autism Speaks, LDA (Learning Disabilities Association), and Services Center for Independent Living. My art was featured in the book Artism: Art of Autism.

My educational experience was miserable because the school I was attending tried to put me in a class for people who low functioning and cognitively delayed. My IQ is 140. The school said I was untestable therefore retarded. My parents said I was untestable and already reading and had me put in the ASRD (Autism Spectrum Related Disorder) class. In this school, my parents fought for inclusion in school society. As a result, I was fully included in regular classes from grades 3 to 12 with support and services. In 7th grade, I was forced to become an activist for inclusion.

I began to experience segregation when I started junior high school. The school staff told me that I needed to break away from my friends, so they could keep me in the disabled quad. It was their idea to keep me safe. For me it was segregation and discrimination and the loss of all my friends. This inspired me to write an essay about my experiences of segregation and inclusion which I called A Thousand Faces in a citywide essay contest, which I won! My junior high school was angry that I wrote about my experiences in segregation, and the next thing I knew that I was denied from participating in Advanced Drama even though I made an A in Drama class and received standing ovations. They also refused to allow me to read my essay at a talent show saying it was offensive because I talked being segregated in the disabled quad even though my education plan said I have to be fully included with my friends. So, I changed schools, Even though the school rated the highest in the area, I moved to a charter art school which was very poor. I found refuge so I could be included in school.

The first year of high school was successful and good, with no segregation. But the second year, the school added a junior high school to the charter school and they decided not to allow me to attend summer art camp. Later, I convinced my school to change the policy and now my former school and I work together to end discrimination and segregation, and let people with autism into the art camp.

During my freshman year at high school, my art teacher, Mrs. Preston told me that I needed to create an original character. I liked history and culture and as an artist, I try to make it my goal to tell truth though history. I was inspired by my 7th grade history class with Justinian, who was the last Roman emperor and I became obsessed with him. For the last 5 years, I’ve been working on my animated feature film called Hopstinianus: The Last Roman, this film is based on the lives of Justinian and Theodora. This is the basis for my movie Hopstinianus: The Last Roman. I want to be a concept artist, writer, director, and animator. It’s a romantic comedy/adventure/historical epic film. I was inspired by the styles of Looney Tunes, Disney, anime, Bruce Timm, and Butch Hartman. I have come with promotional ideas of the movie and merchandising ideas.

I am also working on two TV show ideas which are Sheepspeare Tales, a black comedy based on Shakespeare’s plays. Some of the characters I developed for Sheepspeare Tales are Julius Cowsar, Mark Quactony, Cowpurnia, Mootus, Hamlet, Meowpatra, a sexy anthroporphic cat, and Romeo and Squrreliet.

My latest TV show idea involved the Chronicles of KISS which I came up with since I am a huge fan of KISS, the rock band. I decided to create their roles as superheroes called the Rock Warriors; they are descendants of the Ancient Warriors of Rock who fought against the Demon Lord. In this series, I bring truth through history using mythology. I represented Gene Simmons’ Jewish ancestry through a character I designed called Aishabanu, a cross between Mesopotamian and Jewish culture. I gave Paul Stanley a Greek inspired ancestor named Delilah, who was inspired by Athena, Venus, and Diana. I gave Tommy Thayer an alien ancestor based on his spaceman persona. I gave Eric Singer his wild like traits to his cat ancestor named Neko, who is a tribal cat warrior which was influenced by African/Mesoamerican/Oceanian cultures.

I began my formal art training with Mark Westermoe, who is famous for designing the Total Recall poster. I spent a year with him (till his sabbatical with diabetes.) I understand if I want to be a good entertainment artist, I have to learn how to do realism, I practice this by drawing head abstractions, working with live models, and also concentrating on hands and feet. I’m currently getting my portfolio ready for art school and attending classes at Citrus College. My current GPA is 4.00. My favorite class is Art History with my future mentor Sandra Johnson. I hope to continue my activist work by having speaking engagements and speaking to the topic of autism, and inclusion for the rest of society.

