Artist Statement

Anie Knipping is a 38-year-old artist who works in a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, sewing, writing, and photography—her favorite.

“I’ve made great strides in my stability,” Anie says, but she knows she won’t ever live alone or hold a job. As depicted in her photo essay, she achieves independence by gaining control over her environment. Sensory accommodations, medication, and the companionship of her partner, she says, are crucial to her emotional well-being.

Anie lives in New Jersey. In 2012, she self-published Eccentricity: A Journey Through a Mind, an illustrated account of her experiences. She also speaks at conferences, she says, “because I love people.”

Artist Statement

For the last 12 years, Stephen Storti has made comic books, cartoon shorts, and animated shows, such as “Ethan, Nathan, Larry, and Elmer.” His short films “The Rope” and “The Kiss” have screened at numerous film festivals. He intends to make a living at it and says, “Someday, I will.”

Stephen, 28, graduated from Exceptional Minds, a professional training academy for animators and visual effects artists with autism. He often works on projects at the Exceptional Minds Animation Studio, including animations for Sesame Street.

Stephen lives in Los Angeles with his mom, dad, and brother, and has a sister and three nieces. He also enjoys creating cartoons with two childhood friends.

Artist Statement

As soon as she could hold a crayon, Chelsea Dub began expressing herself through art. The 29-year-old multimedia artist now works in such mediums as sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, digital photography, and computer graphics.

Art has served as an outlet to interpret and cope with her experiences and feelings in a creative way. Common themes include the connection between issues such as disability rights, feminism, and animal rights.

Chelsea lives with her parents, two siblings, and two cats in Noblesville, Indiana. She graduated from Ball State University in 2017 with a BFA in painting and animation. She hopes to earn a living with her art, but finding jobs that accommodate neurodivergent employees is difficult.

Artist Statement

Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay is a 31-year-old writer and poet. He has published several books of poetry offering insights into his perspective as a non-speaking autistic person, including The Mind Tree, which he wrote between the ages of eight and 11, and How Can I Talk If My Lips Don't Move? He practices writing every day as a discipline and experiments with new styles.

In his book Plankton Dreams—What I Learned in Special Ed, Tito describes his experiences and frustrations with schooling. He continues to study literature and philosophy, but says life offers endless opportunities to learn. “That insufficiency in the heart is school, that moment of rejection is also a school,” he explains.

Tito lives with his mother in Austin, Texas. Financial freedom is important to him, but he’s realistic about what he can and can’t do. “I do not think about the future beyond the moment,” he says. “We are flimsy boats in the sea of time.”

Poem read by Nathan Everett Patterson
Nathan is an Irish actor, singer, and writer, with a focus on musical theater. On the spectrum himself, Nathan is passionate about representing disability onstage and showing the world that disabled actors are talented and employable.

Artist Statement

Forrest Lotterhos started playing music and writing at a young age and began creating films in 2013 as a way to push the boundaries of storytelling and sound design. His film, phoria, has been in gallery exhibitions and screened at over 15 international film festivals.

Creative expression allows Forrest, 32, to connect with the world in ways that feel safe and affirming, as well as to explore movement and sound as alternative forms of communication. Through his art, he aims to advocate for autistic, LGBTQ, and other individuals who feel marginalized.

Forrest graduated from the University of Colorado in 2015 with a BA in creative writing and a BFA in film studies production. He is a freelance video editor, performing musician and composer and started his own media company in 2016 with the goal of being a full-time artist. He lives and works in Lafayette, Colorado.