Autism...

The diagnosis was received when Grace Walker Goad was 32 months in 1997. After a year of typical, grueling early interventions for her disorder, her mother, author/speaker/advocate Leisa A. Hammett knew this truth: children with disAbilities deserve the joy of art making, too. In addition to her other interventions, Grace began enjoying the pleasure and therapeutic benefits of dance/movement, music and art therapies. But, it was visual art that her mother and her art therapist could see, that at age four, was Grace’s greatest mode of expression. Since then Grace has continued working, largely one-on-one, with arts therapists and teachers.

Art is a window into the potential and beauty within the world of disAbility....

Grace began showing her art at age six. She began selling at age eight. At age eleven, she began receiving local, regional, national and international acclaim via newspapers, magazines, the internet and television. In 2007, she appeared, with her mother, on the autism episode of ABC’s “The View.” That year, GraceArt, was launched to sell a card and print line, in addition to Grace’s originals. As a teenager now, Grace enjoys a happy, healthy well-rounded life full of activity, art, plus heapings of love and celebration for who she is and the gifts she brings to the world.