GRACE WALKER GOAD

Grace Goad’s devoted parents pursued the typical early interventions for autism spectrum disorder upon their daughter’s diagnosis in 1997 at age 32 months. But a year later, her mother, Leisa Hammett, saw her daughter’s life was void of childhood arts: dance, music, and art-making. Due to the severity of Grace’s disability, Leisa knew she needed to find arts therapists to work with her daughter to incorporate these childhood joys and as teaching tools, as well.

They weren’t easy to locate, but the family found a dance/movement therapist, a music therapist, and an art therapist. Grace showed a propensity for rhythm and perfect pitch, but it was visual art to which she seemed most drawn. It was in 1998, at the age for four that Grace began painting. Both the therapist and Leisa knew they were seeing a keen sense of color in Grace’s work. Her sense of composition, too, was then and continued to be beyond Grace’s chronological years. And, art making had then, and still, a zen-effect on Grace, who was other wise hyperactive.

Photo: Nina Couch Cardona, Nashville Public Radio

Grace began showing her work at age six. At age eight, her mother realized this wasn’t her art to keep. Others had been asking to purchase works for two years. This was Grace’s art and it was time to release it to the world. In 2006, Grace began to receive significant press for her work, including a feature in the arts issue of Autism Society of America’s Autism Advocate magazine. In 2007, Grace launched her business selling notecards, in addition to originals, after she was featured on the autism episode of ABC’s “The View.”

Photo: Rebekah Pope Photography

Grace attended a blend of special education and general education classroom programming in Metro Nashville Public Schools. From kindergarten through transition, she had a one-on-one assisting paraprofessional. Her school successes in art were during her second year of kindergarten and her first grade year when her art therapist was hired as the elementary school’s art teacher. Art therapists only recently became more prevalent in the middle Tennessee area around 2013, but consistently proved to have academic understanding of disability and the challenges it can present, and the knowledge of how to use the art to bridge the individual’s innate ability.

Grace worked with three art therapists during her school years, all were privately employed. She attended Hillsboro High School in part due to the reputation of the former lead art teacher who was adamant about inclusion of students with diabilities and in honoring their rights to create and contribute artistically. Through most of Grace’s school years she worked with private teachers one on one.

It is the quiet of individual mentoring versus a noisy classroom where Grace creates her best work. Her art mentors provide studio space and are paid for materials which they present to Grace for her to choose. Because of the level of her disability, she needs a high level of care. Art is one domain where she is in command, choosing her palate and creations.

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