特殊的思维：自闭症儿童的创造力

Exceptional Minds: The Creative Power of Young Adults with Autism 特殊的思维：自闭症儿童的创造力

For young people identified as on the autism spectrum¹, growing into adulthood² can have its own challenges. But students at the non-profit educational program Exceptional Minds prove that autism can also mean special talents.

Madeline Petti is an example of how Exceptional Minds helps students with autism seek and reach their full potential.

“I want the world to know that I like designing things and Exceptional Minds is a place where you can go and you will be accepted and you will learn things and it’s awesome³.”

Madeline Petti is part of a new wave of up and coming digital effects artists. She is a young, very talented student who has autism spectrum disorder⁴ (ASD). She is learning all about the entertainment industry with Exceptional Minds, a visual effects animation⁵ studio in Hollywood, California. Exceptional Minds provides vocational training for young adults with autism.

Madeline has played video games since 4th grade. She has also always loved watching animated⁶ shows. But, Madeline says she had a hard time learning in traditional settings.

“I had kind of a difficult time. I get bored really easily when, like, all I’m doing is sitting there and people are talking at me and I’m not really personally invested in the material and when you are not really personally invested you, well really have to force yourself to stay in the moment and pay attention and well if you don’t have the motivation to force yourself you are pretty much kind of go off into your own personal La La Land.”

Exceptional Minds provided the right kind of learning environment for Madeline. More action, less talking.

“I like coming here because it’s so hands on. We are doing so many different things like in a normal classroom you just kind of sit there and they lecture at you and you get more and more bored because all you are doing is sitting there and listening. Whereas here it’s a lot more hands on like we get shown examples or we will follow along with the directions. It’s I guess we are doing more. I’m second year so I am learning a lot of editing and visual effects I know how to make a light saber. First year we learned animation and photo shop. Photoshop is pretty cool actually. We do a lot of really neat text effects.”

Ernie Merlan is EM program director.

“The heart of our program is a full time three year vocational program where they learn to do visual effects and animation and title work specifically for the entertainment industry. The program would teach them not only the technical skills that they needed but the work readiness skills that they needed in order to get a job. So we focus on how they look and what their attitude is and organizing themselves and problem solving on their own and then work place conflict which is something I think we all have but learning how to deal with it is a little tough. We also have part time programs and we have a summer program for younger kids that kind of get them indoctrinated into the kinds of things that we are doing here.”

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability marked by repetitive behaviors and social problems. It affects one in 68 American children. Autism is considered a spectrum condition because its effects can differ widely from person to person. But, like with other disabilities, ASD can make it difficult for a person to find success in work and social experiences.

For Ernie Merlan, working at Exceptional Minds permits him to do something that is part of his life purpose…..help people.

“I love coming in and talking to the students and sometimes when you’re the director of a program… you don’t have that much of an opportunity to talk to students, but when I come in here and Madeline shows me something she’s working on or one of the students has a problem that is a pretty important problem to him, but I’m able to get him through it…that makes my day. Knowing that these guys are going to make something of their lives and that they are going to be able to show the world who they really are that’s what it is all about.”

Tony Saturno is another student at Exceptional Minds. He earned an Art and Animation certificate at a community college in his home state of Maryland. But, he says the instruction at Exceptional Minds has taught him much more.

"I feel like I've learned a lot of new things here at Exceptional Minds. I've learned some new technical things that go into movies or tv shows whether its live action or animated, but also just story telling in general."

It is costly⁷ to run a program like Exceptional Minds. Most families can only pay partial tuition. The program provides financial assistance to every student at the school.

Some students find jobs immediately after finishing the three year Exceptional Minds program. Other students work first at the Exceptional Minds studio. There, students gain connections to Hollywood’s major entertainment studios, like Marvel⁸, Fox and Sony. They get to work on movies and television.

Ernie Merlan says the exacting⁹, creative nature of animation seems to fit for some people with ASD. But, he hopes that Exceptional Minds can serve as a model program for teaching other vocations¹⁰ to those on the spectrum.

“Our dream is that we can show other people how to do what we’re doing. That they can in their own towns can figure out ways that these individuals can be useful to the town to the local industry and have them be a part of society.”

One thing is certain for Madeline Petti, Exceptional Minds has helped to change her outlook on life.

“I don’t want to say my life would have been bleak¹¹ or something without it but I do think that at Exceptional Minds I have a lot more opportunities than I did before. Like I would have made my way but it wouldn’t have been as good.

Ernie Merlan says the program changed him as well.

“I am so excited to come into work every day that I don’t have the same kind of stress or worries that I had before. I know that I am making a difference and so that changes my attitude about work.”

That’s Exceptional Minds: ‘changing lives…one frame at a time.’

Words In This Story

autism spectrum disorder - n. a developmental disability marked by repetitive behaviors and social problems

vocational adj. – relating to the special skills, training, etc that you need for a particular job

anime n. a style of animation that was created in Japan that uses colorful images, strong characters and stories that have a lot of action

lecture v. – to give a talk to a group of people to teach them about something

indoctrinate – v. to teach someone to fully¹² accept the ideas, opinions and beliefs of a particular group

tuition - n. money that is paid to a school for the right to study there

1 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

6 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

9 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

10 vocations   

n.（认为特别适合自己的）职业( vocation的名词复数 )；使命；神召；（认为某种工作或生活方式特别适合自己的）信心

参考例句：

• The term profession originally denoted a limited number of vocations. 专业这个术语起初表示数量有限的职业。 来自辞典例句
• I understood that Love encompassed all vocations, that Love was everything "." 我明白爱含有一切圣召，爱就是一切。 来自互联网

11 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。