We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly Green. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.

Hi Kelly, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As a young girl my grandmother would encourage me to make art with found objects. Painting rocks and palm fronds from her yard. It sparked a love of nature and creating that is lasting a lifetime.
In my freshman year of high school an Art teacher recruited 12 students of all ages to travel to a local bank to decorate the windows for Christmas, where 1 student would win a $100.00 prize.
I did not WIN the prize but as one of the youngest artists on sight I was assigned to the bank’s front entrance window. I felt that, that in and of itself was my win! So I have painted store front windows every year since which led me to a life of creating many requested and imagined images over these many years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In 1999 I gave birth to my now 25 year old non speaking Autistic son. As he grew I realized that there was no real informative info for children (or anyone else) to understand…OR…innerstand my son and how he was experiencing the world.
With my Art background I realized that I could create imagery to help aid children to not be alarmed by their neurodivergent peers. I created a website AutismHWY.com along with a series of children’s coloring books containing useful Autism information that people can use upon meeting Autistic kids! “Making Friends with Autism”…
After a few months of sharing my ideas on line I decided to create an outdoor chalk festival event for Autistic people to connect their families while sharing honest and disarming info through Art!
Our beloved Chalk~Art Festival has occurred 12 times in these past 14 yrs. having to forgo the event in 2020 and 2021 during the initial days of Covid-19.
Each and every year we welcome a mixture of professional and amataur artists with Autistic artists in both of those categories.
It’s been an amazing yearly experience sharing visual clues that tune people into Autistic culture, Autistic needs and Autistic desires!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Supporting creativity in each and every soul on this planet! It’s disheartening to hear people say that they can’t create! When in fact, we are ALL creators born of a creator.
HONOR the words, I can, I do and I will!

Too often other people define what a person can or cannot accomplish in this life and that is not accurate.
We are ALL capable of greatness and wonder. We must believe and allow that for all people from childhood on.
Giving people the encouragement and permission structure to create is the best thing anyone can contribute to another person’s existence!

We are all much happier when we feel free to be and create what makes us happy…regardless what others stuck in the false “I cannot” mode may say.
Believing in yourself no matter how or who you are is the best thing my son’s neurology has brought to my worldview. A worldview I try and share widely!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

That people are ALL the same…that we ALL feel things in similar ways.

My journey into Autistic culture and information has helped my son and myself on multitudes of levels. I can visually see what my son may need without spoken words, just as he reads my body language in addition to listening to my words. It’s truly magical to connect on physical levels without always relying on words.

Something I had no clue existed.So many people speak words that are not always accurate to any given situation causing so much confusion to abound.
I see it now on the daily.

Realizing that stimulus is delivered to people in differing ways was and STILL IS an eye opener that I can’t wait for the rest of the world to recognize!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://autismhwy.com
• Facebook: AutismHWY Chalk Festival Community, AutismHWY, Kelly Green
• Twitter: AutismHWY
• Youtube: Kelly Green
• Other: I am woefully behind on some of these sights and will be trying out more of them as we head toward 2025!

Image Credits
“Radically Different Feelers” By Kelly Green
“It’s O.K. to Be Different” By Lysa Ashley
“You Are Treasured” By Lorelle Miller
Laishan Ito and KellyG posing!
“Unpuzzling Autism” By Lysa Ashley
Jeremy Bernstein portrait By Jeremy and Diane Bernstein!
“Unlocking Neurodiversity” By Stacy Nalapraya
“Giraffes Can Dance” By Lysa Ashley
Lesley Perdomo creates Dan Akroyd LIVE!