Faces and Voices of Autism Photo Exhibition to Debut at the State House

Boston, Mass. — Faces and Voices of Autism, a unique exhibition that combines photographs of children and adolescents with autism with personal stories told by people in their lives, will debut at the Massachusetts State House on April 30, to coincide with Autism Spectrum Awareness Day.

The free exhibition is presented by May Institute, a nonprofit organization that serves individuals with special needs, and the National Autism Center, in collaboration with Andrew Child Photography. The State House will host the exhibit during the week of April 30. Other venues will include the Prudential Center (May 12-18) and Children’s Hospital, Boston in June.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every 150 children in this country has an autism spectrum disorder,” says May Institute President and CEO Walter P. Christian, Ph.D., ABPP. “This exhibition will help to raise awareness about autism in a way that is personal and powerful, giving names and faces to the facts and statistics.”

For the past several years, May Institute has worked with professional photographer Andrew Child to compile a photographic library of students who attend the Institute’s special schools for children with autism. The resulting work is a series of environmental portraits that opens a window into the lives of these children that is ordinarily closed to the general public.

Faces and Voices of Autism features 18 “faces,” each accompanied by a short story, or “voice,” from the perspective of a person in that child’s life – a parent, sibling, teacher, or friend. The stories do not focus specifically on the child’s diagnosis, but on what makes him or her special.

“It is our hope that the Faces and Voices exhibition will help people understand that the need for research, advocacy, and treatment has never been more critical,” adds Susan M. Wilczynski, Ph.D., BCBA, Executive Director of the National Autism Center.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information about locations and times, call 800-778-7601 or visit www.mayinstitute.org.