Faces and Voices of Autism Photo Exhibition to Debut in Tennessee at Austin Peay State University

04/12/11

Clarksville, TN. — 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 be on display at Austin Peay State University from April 11 to April 22. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The exhibition is presented by May Institute, a national nonprofit organization that serves individuals with special needs. Headquartered in Randolph, Mass., May Institute operates the May Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Clarksville, Tenn., that offers educational and behavioral services to children and their families, private agencies, and public schools. The Center also serves military families stationed at Fort Campbell and the surrounding areas in Kentucky and Tennessee.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in every 110 children in this country has an autism spectrum disorder,” says Christina Bock Giuliano, M.S., BCBA, Clinical and Program Director at the May Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Clarksville. “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.”

The Faces and Voices of Autism photo exhibition has traveled throughout the Northeast, and to the West Coast, Washington, D.C., and Texas. The exhibition features 19 “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 my hope that the Faces and Voices of Autism 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-D, Senior Vice President of Autism Services at May Institute and Executive Director of the National Autism Center.

For more information about the Faces and Voices of Autism, call 781.437.1269 or visit www.mayinstitute.org.

About May Institute
For more than 55 years, May Institute has been a leader in providing behavioral healthcare services for children and adults with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities, brain injury, mental illness, and behavioral health needs. May Institute serves thousands of individuals and families every year at almost 200 service locations across the country. For more information about May Institute, call 800.778.7601 or visit www.mayinstitute.org.

About May Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders – Clarksville
The May Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Clarksville, Tenn., offers a comprehensive set of educational and behavioral services to children and their families, private agencies, and public schools. The Center also provides services to military families stationed at Fort Campbell and the surrounding areas in Kentucky and Tennessee. Through this and other Centers, May Institute serves all branches of the military — Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard — at installations across the country.

Working closely with the families served, May Institute’s behavior specialists use developmentally appropriate practices based on applied behavior analysis (ABA), the methodology universally recognized as critical for teaching children with a diagnosis of ASD or other behavioral or developmental disabilities. The Center’s state-of-the-art programming addresses all areas of a child's development including language, peer interactions, and behavior. For more information about local services, contact 931.494.3527.