Leigh Denoon/Indiana Public Media
Autism affects one in 68 children and because it is a spectrum disorder, can range from mild to severe. For John Tran, 14, who was 10 when he was first referred to Indianapolis neuroscientist Jane Yip, being able to speak and use the toilet were out of his realm.
John Tran uses art as a therapy technique. (Photo: Courtesy John Tran)
For nearly 2 years, Yip worked with John with minimal success. His sensitivity to sensory input made it nearly impossible for him to leave his home. Lights, noise and crowds would lead to anger and tantrums.
With his aggression becoming an increasing danger for his younger brother and nearing the end of her rope, Yip told John if something didn’t change he’d have to leave the family home.
Yip says the threat of leaving his mom and dad made John start to cooperate. Over the next year, she provided him with paper and crayons and used his love of coloring as a reward for going to the bathroom. About a year ago, she showed an artist friend John’s drawings. Impressed by his style, the friend started working with him with canvas and paints.
Now 14, he’s producing dazzling abstract acrylic paintings under the guidance of current artist Kathy Lloyd. She says his disruptive behavior is down to less than 10 minutes of their 5-hour sessions.
Juliet King, director of the Graduate Art Therapy program at Herron School of Art and Design, is familiar with John’s story and says Yip’s work illustrates the need for more research of how art making impacts the brain.
John mixes all his own paint colors, provided only the primary hues of red, blue and yellow. Yip says he has a gift for the dramatic use of complimentary colors – and that he innately tends to use more reds when he’s angry and blues when he’s serene.
“The way he paints, when he splashed color, he’s all into it. So there is movement. There is a looseness. In fact, I think he has a lot to contribute to the art world.”
Yip is hopeful John will be able to support himself as an adult with his art. And with one in 68 babies today born on the autism spectrum, Yip wants families to have hope and be looking for each child’s individual talents – saying John is not disabled but differently abled.
An exhibition of John Tran’s paintings, Remaking Reality Through Art, is underway at the Sullivan Munce Cultural Center in Zionsville thru February 20th.
To read more, click here:
http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/indianapolis-boy-autism-finds-92865/
