Art in itself. Should autism be treated? September 30th, 2013

What is autism is still not known for certain. Scientists have been struggling to unravel this mystery for decades. From the point of view of the psychological theory of autism, the main sign of this "deviation" can be considered difficulties in communication, violations of social behavior, avoidance of communication with other people.

Since the nature of this phenomenon has not yet been revealed, in Russia autism is not considered a disease, and statistics on the number of autistic children are not kept. According to the representative of the Dobro society (whose main area of ​​activity is helping autistic children) Morozov S.A., the number of such children in Russia is now no less than 250-300 thousand people.

Scientists from the University of Los Angeles have made a discovery in the field of studying the causes of autism. A team of researchers led by Dr. Joseph Buxbom has discovered that autism is genetic in nature. Researchers have found a link between the SHANK3 gene mutation and behavioral manifestations of autism.

Studies have shown that the absence of one copy of this gene leads to impaired communication between the frontal lobes of the brain and its other parts.The discovery of American scientists came very close to unraveling the causes of autism and gives hope that autistic people will soon receive quick and effective treatment.

But autism is not a disease, but a special type of perception of the surrounding world. This is a view from another reality, from a different angle. They are the same people as the rest.

And there is one question that I always ask myself when I see what autists do and hear about their treatment. Wouldn't "autism cure" be the destruction of their universe, their perception of a world different from ours? And maybe the autistic world is real? And our distorted?

When I first saw the paintings of autistic people, they made a very strong impression. You can watch for hours. You return to them again and again, peering into the details, finding new and new subtexts and analogies.

I remember the great painters who, to one degree or another, had a degree of autism. Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and even, perhaps, Hieronymus Bosch - once created and did not know that they have the same thing as thousands of other people today. Drawings of autistic people allow you to better understand the worldview and their view of their place in society.

I invite you to appreciate the amazing Creative skills people living in their own special world, and answer at least to yourself: is it necessary to try to cure them?

Artist Steven Wiltscher paints New York City from memory after a 20-minute helicopter flight over the city.

"Panorama of Tokyo"

"Panorama of London"

He recreates city panoramas exclusively from memory. To create his masterpieces, the artist uses exclusively ballpoint pens, high-quality paper, and an iPod, as music helps him concentrate and not be distracted from the process of drawing.

Psychologist, educator and behavioral analyst J. Mullin has collected the works of these unusual artists in the book Drawing Autism. In addition to the works of distinguished authors, the book contains paintings by unknown but talented artists, as well as drawings of children with autism spectrum disorders.

"Birds", David Bart (age 10)

From a letter from his mother: "... there are almost 400 birds in the picture and he knows the names and Latin names of most of them"

"The Outsider", Donna Williams

"Vietnam War" Milda Bunzeit

"The Death of Love" by Charles D. Topping

"Imaginary map of the city", Felix (11 years old)

Dancing with the Dog, Helen Michael

"Mark Twain House", Jessica Park

"India", Veda Rangan

"Big Field Friends", D.J. Freedom

"Leap Years" by Emily L. Williams

"They took your razor, laces and belt" by Emily L. Williams

"Mirror of the Mind", Eric Chen

Friends, Wil C Kerner (age 12)

"Werewolf", Wut Devolder (age 14)

"Changing Seasons" by Josh Peddle (age 12)

Stone House, Sean Belanger

Girl and Goat Justin Kahn

"A Visit to an Art Exhibition" by Samuel Bosworth

"Abraham Lincoln", appliqué by John Williams

"Cat House" by famous autistic artist, sculptor and singer Donna Williams

Blind Flight Madalena Tello

Autism is not a disease, but a special type of perception of the surrounding world. This is a view from another reality, from a different angle. At the same time, it is important to remember that autistic people are just like everyone else. The isolation inherent in autistic artists very often borders on genius. We can think of great painters who had some degree of autism. Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and even, perhaps, Hieronymus Bosch - once created and did not know that they have the same thing as thousands of other people today. Drawings of autistic people allow you to better understand the worldview and their view of their place in society. Invites you to appreciate the amazing creative abilities of people living in their own special world. Artist Steven Wiltscher paints New York City from memory after a 20-minute helicopter flight over the city.
"Panorama of Tokyo"
"Panorama of London" It recreates the panoramas of cities exclusively from memory. To create his masterpieces, the artist uses exclusively ballpoint pens, high-quality paper and an iPod, because. music helps him concentrate and not be distracted from the process of drawing. Psychologist, educator and behavioral analyst J. Mullin has collected the works of these unusual artists in the book Drawing Autism. In addition to the works of distinguished authors, the book contains paintings by unknown but talented artists, as well as drawings of children with autism spectrum disorders.
"Birds", David Barth (age 10) From a letter from his mother: "... there are almost 400 birds in the drawing and he knows the names and Latin names of most of them"
"The Outsider", Donna Williams "Vietnam War" Milda Bunzeit "The Death of Love" by Charles D. Topping
"Imaginary map of the city", Felix (11 years old) Dancing with the Dog, Helen Michael "Mark Twain House", Jessica Park
"India", Veda Rangan
"Big Field Friends", D.J. Freedom
"Leap Years" by Emily L. Williams "They took your razor, laces and belt" by Emily L. Williams "Mirror of the Mind", Eric Chen Friends, Wil C Kerner (age 12) "Werewolf", Wut Devolder (age 14) "Changing Seasons" by Josh Peddle (age 12)
Stone House, Sean Belanger Girl and Goat Justin Kahn
"A Visit to an Art Exhibition" by Samuel Bosworth "Abraham Lincoln", appliqué by John Williams According to the author, the world seems chaotic, so creating a coherent image from disparate parts is a pleasure. "Cat House" by famous autistic artist, sculptor and singer Donna Williams Blind Flight Madalena Tello

Drawings of anxious children, as a rule, have a lot of blackened "spots" or, on the contrary, are too "transparent" and almost invisible. People depicted as an anxious child often have large dark (shaded) eyes. The proverb "Fear has large eyes" accurately reflects the nature of the drawings of children in this category.

Anxious children who have low self-esteem picture themselves as small, almost invisible, usually at the bottom of the page.

Creating their "masterpieces", they like to use an eraser, trace and correct the lines just drawn - their uncertainty in everything and the fear of doing something wrong is also manifested in artistic creativity. The postures of people, as a rule, are static and of the same type: everyone is frozen, everyone is waiting, everyone seems to be listening and looking closely, but are there any signals of impending danger?

Pasha, 6 years old: "How is it to draw a family? Mom? Do you need a dad? Here. Right? And Pasha is in another room. Good?"

Igor, 7 years old: "It's me. I was going to school and got lost. Because I went in the wrong direction. And my mother is at work."

Olya, 5 years old: "Family. This is me and my mom walking."

Drawings of autistic children.

Autistic children draw in their own way: thoughtfully, slowly, sometimes for them it is a whole ritual. For example, the trees in their drawings usually have a thick trunk, which occupies a large area on the leaf, branches extend from the trunk, usually similar to wide rectangular boards from a fence. There are very few leaves on the branches.

Sometimes children are so carried away by the process of drawing that, it would seem, having finished their drawing, they manage to shade the entire image in the most accurate way.

The subject of the works of autistic children, as a rule, is very monotonous. Children can depict the same plot, the same characters, performing the same actions day after day, month after month, even year after year. (However, we must not forget that such a "constancy of artistic taste" is characteristic of both anxious children who are afraid of failure, and those children who simply cannot draw or have problems with fine motor skills.) and I do. What I do, I like it, "- you can read" between the lines "of such drawings.

Sasha, 8 years old: "Tree".

Serezha, 7 years old: "It's me."

Serezha, 6 years old: "My family".

Test: drawing of a non-existent animal

If you are concerned about the "wrong" behavior of your child in a team, if he does not develop relationships with peers, let's check how serious your concerns are, using one of the projective techniques - "Drawing a non-existent animal". What is the meaning of the methodology? It is known that when a child draws, he transfers, projects onto paper his inner world, i-image. A psychologist can tell a lot about the mood, inclinations of a little artist, looking at his work. A single test will not help us recreate the exact psychological picture, but we have no such goal. Now it is important for us to understand whether the child has problems in relationships with the outside world.

You will need: a standard sheet of white or cream paper and a simple medium-hard pencil. Markers and pens cannot be used, soft pencils are also undesirable.

Instruction to the child: think up and draw a non-existent animal and call it a non-existent name.

Explain to the child that the animal should be invented by him himself, captivate him with this task - to create such a creature that no one has invented before him. This should not be a character from cartoons, computer games or fairy tales that has already been seen. After the drawing is ready, ask the artist about the creature that he got. It is necessary to find out the sex, age, size, purpose of unusual organs, if any; ask if he has relatives and what kind of relationship he has with them, if he has a family, and who he is in the family, what he loves and what he fears, what kind of character he has.

The test subject unconsciously identifies himself with the drawing, transfers his qualities and his role in society to the depicted creature. Sometimes children talk on behalf of the animal about their problems. But this does not always carry enough information and depends on the child's ability to analyze his inner world. For us, it is important to understand how well he is adapted in the team.

We will use special criteria for deciphering the picture, which I tested in practice during 12 years of constant work with "problem" children. So, what should you pay attention to.

Psychologist, educator, and behavioral analyst J. Mullin has collected the works of these unusual artists in her book Drawing Autism. In addition to the works of distinguished authors, the book contains paintings by unknown but talented artists, as well as drawings of children with autism spectrum disorders.

Closed external world opens an extraordinary inner world, which can only be seen through the prism of creativity. Drawings of autistic people allow you to better understand the attitude of these people and their view of their place in society.

Let's miss Stephen Wiltshire's panorama of New York, we have already written about Stephen many times before. To create his masterpieces, the artist uses exclusively ballpoint pens, high-quality paper and an iPod, because. music helps him concentrate and not be distracted from the process of drawing.

David Barth, age 10, The Birds

From a letter from his mother: "... there are almost 400 birds in the picture and he knows the names and Latin names of most of them"

Donna Williams, "The Outsider"

Milda Bunzeit, Vietnam War

Charles D. Topping, "The Death of Love"

Felix, 11 years old, "Imaginary map of the city"

Helen Michael, Dancing with the Dog

Jessica Park, Mark Twain House

Veda Rangan, India

D.J. Svoboda, "Big Field Friends"

Emily L. Williams, Leap Years

Emily L. Williams, "They took your razor, laces and belt"

Eric Chen "Mirror of the Mind"

November 2009 saw the publication of a book by the American behavioral psychologist and educator Jill Mullin, dedicated to the creativity of people with autism spectrum disorders, which include autism and related conditions. In addition to the works of honored authors, it contains drawings by unknown but talented artists. Recently magazine New Scientist published a number of works. With these and other pictures of autists "MedNovosti" acquaints its readers.

Historic downtown Troy, New York through the eyes of an autistic person:

"Rope Fairy" by Marilyn Cosho, who has Asperger's Syndrome:

"Potala Palace in Tibet" by autistic Jessica Park:

"Vietnam War" by autistic Lithuanian art student Milda Bandzaite:

"Abraham Lincoln". Application by John Williams. According to the author, with Asperger's syndrome, the world around seems chaotic, so creating a coherent image from disparate parts is a pleasure:

"Girl and Goat" by autistic Justin Cana:

"Cat House" by famous autistic artist, sculptor and singer Donna Williams:

Speaking about the work of autists, one cannot fail to mention the work of the most talented of them - the so-called savants (from the French sava nt - "expert", "scientist"). According to psychiatrist Darold Treffert, savantism is a rare condition in which a person with a developmental disability of some kind has extraordinary abilities in one or more narrow areas, most commonly in computing, music, fine arts, cartography and 3D modeling (one of the most famous savants was Kim Peek, who became the prototype for the protagonist of the Hollywood movie "Rain Man").

Frenchman Gilles Tréhin created an imaginary city of Urville, describing its history, geography, culture and economy, and drawing over 300 city views:

Works by Scottish savant Richard Wawro:

The works of the American George Widener, whose exceptional abilities are manifested in calculation, calendar and fine arts:

The Englishman Stephen Wiltshire, nicknamed the "man-camera", reproduces once seen architectural structures, such as the Tower Bridge in London, with absolute accuracy:

And the Moscow Kremlin:

Just as accurately, he depicts the perspectives of entire cities, such as Chicago:

Video ColorField production

In addition, Wiltshire portrays fictional subjects. Painting "Earthquake":

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"Death of Love"Charles D. Topping

"Imaginary map of the city",Felix (11 years old)

"Dancing with the Dog" Helen Michael

"Mark Twain House", Jessica Park

"India", Veda Rangan

"Big Field Friends", D.J. Freedom

"Leap Years" by Emily L. Williams