Colors and emotions: exploring the world of children on the autism spectrum

Stop. Look at these drawings. What you are observing is a template of drawings by children on the autism spectrum.

During the national pediatric congress Pediart in Rome, a drawing contest was held for children with autism spectrum disorder, and the three most beautiful drawings were voted on at the end. However, the winning drawing were all abstract, contrary to the hope of seeing figures, which would indicate communicative openness. To understand better, we ask Emanuele and Margareth, the project managers, to explain:

“Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit a significant delay in the graphic process, as drawing is a communicative tool. This delay does not seem to be related to intellectual quotient as much as to the area of social affection: if there is relational inhibition, there will also be inhibition in the communicative aspect of drawing. Just like writing, drawing is a useful tool for channeling one’s emotions. Despite the developmental stages of graphic skills in autistic children being slower compared to children of the same age, this tool allows them to express the characteristics of their own personality. In fact, when a child begins to use their graphic production to spontaneously represent objects from the surrounding world, it opens an important communication channel that allows them to express needs and desires. Unlike words, which evoke non-visualizable sound traces in the child, drawings leave tangible traces that allow for a more concrete confrontation with the world. Considering the difficulty that a child with autism spectrum disorder encounters in integrating various sensory inputs and conceptualizing them, it becomes clearer how graphic production can represent a highly important cognitive tool. This is why these drawings should be viewed with the ‘eyes of the heart,’ because each one represents important relational growth for autistic children.”

Inkiostro Bianco is happy and proud to have supported this project, as well as having allowed the children to transform into little set designers and bring their creativity to life by creating stunning drawings. These have become both a graphic design and a fashion item, a scarf.

Moreover, the graphic design born from this project has officially entered in Inkiostro Bianco’s portfolio and is available for anyone who wants to decorate their project in an even more unique way.