Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Psychology
Weblink
http://www.akashicbooks.com/cata …

DRAWING AUTISM

Jill Mullin

Autism spectrum disorder is found in one of every eighty-eight children—this gorgeous book offers powerful insight into the disorder. Over the last decade autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has become an international topic of conversation, knowing no racial, ethnic, or social barriers. Behavior analyst and educator Mullin has assembled a staggering array of work from established artists like Gregory Blackstock, Jessica Park, and Ping Lian Yeak, to the unknown but no less talented.

Their creations, coupled with artist interviews, comprise a fascinating and compelling book that serves to educate and inspire anyone who knows someone diagnosed with ASD. Mullin’s introduction and the foreword by best-selling author Temple Grandin provide an overview of autism and advocate for nurturing the talents, artistic and otherwise, of autistic individuals.

Using artwork created by individuals diagnosed with ASD, Drawing Autism celebrates their artistry and self-expression while also serving as an accessible point of entry into understanding how ASD manifests in individuals. Autism is known as a “spectrum disorder” because no two diagnoses are exactly the same; however, there are characteristic traits of ASD. Through their art, the contributors exhibit unique perspectives on how they see the world and their places in it. The book’s seven chapters—Interaction, Individual and Societal; Repetition, Repetition, Repetition; Getting from Here to There; Bird’s Eye View; Another World; It’s All History; Art for Art’s Sake—speak directly to the core characteristics of ASD.

Jill Mullin is a behavior analyst and educator who teaches and applies a behavioral approach when working with individuals diagnosed with ASD. The new edition includes an introduction by Temple Grandin who is considered the most accomplished adult with autism in the world. She is the author of several books, including the best sellers The Way I See It and Animals in Translation.

Available products
Book Published 2014-03-01 by Akashic Books
Book Published 2014-03-01 by Akashic Books

Comments

This book is a testament to the power of art to reveal the inner world of people living with ASD.

Drawing Autism is not just a book about autism and art—it’s a book about being human and expressing selfhood in all its beautiful, messy, complex forms. Add Drawing Autism to your wish list, tell your friends about it, and show it to your kids on the spectrum.

Editor Jill Mullin has collected artwork from a host of painters and other graphic artists who are all somewhere on the spectrum. The fascinating and often lovely reprints in Drawing Autism help provide another perspective on the capabilities of people with autism.

A jaw-droppingly beautiful book.

If you’re a practicing or aspiring art therapist, this book is essential reading and it also offers the casual reader an insight into this curious strand of outsider art.

Drawing Autism is a drop-dead beautiful book that celebrates the artistry and self-expression found in the drawings, paintings, and collages created by individuals diagnosed with autism. It is a stunning, thoughtful and yes, HOPEFUL book that is not just for families touched by autism, but for all who are curious about the disorder, which affects more than 1 in 150 children.

This book is like a key to opening doors across educational and medical landscapes. But perhaps even more importantly, the fact that many of the artists are able to explain what they were feeling at the time of their drawings will surely help this book find solid footing among parents, caregivers, and extended family members who have, up to this point, struggled to understand the inner workings of their precious loved one’s autistic mind.

DRAWING AUTISM (Akashic, $22.95) highlights an “area where individuals with autism can have great abilities.” Jill Mullin, a clinical therapist, began the project with an artist named Glen Russ, who at an early age developed a passion for music and art. His drawings of the Temptations and the Jackson 5 inspired Mullin to explore the recurring themes in art made by people with autism. Russ’s pictures are primitive but not naïve, while other works in the book are more advanced, notably Noah Schneider’s “The Fiddler” (pictured), painted when he was 13, which combines a little Chagall with comic flair.

What is the actual experience of living with autism in a deep-felt sense, beyond the social stereotypes and headline-worthy superskills? Drawing Autism, a celebration of the artistry and self-expression found in artwork by people diagnosed with autism, explores just that. The stunning volume, with an introduction by Grandin herself, features works by more than 50 international contributors, from children to established artists, that illustrate the rich multiplicity of the condition.