Giving loving drawings to autistic children

Located on Tran Ngoc Dien Street, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, MyCorner Art Studio (MCAS) is a beloved meeting place for children with autism spectrum disorder. This place receives and nurtures the children's painting ability and social skills every day with the main role of teacher Pham Ngoc Thao Uyen.

Create a connected community

This 9x girl started teaching painting when she was a student and has been working in this field for 10 years now. After graduating from Hong Bang International University with a degree in architecture, she continued to teach painting at centers.

In 2022, Thao Uyen had the chance to meet and teach drawing to Dorjee (15 years old). Her dedication brought many positive emotions to this teenager.

Dorjee’s mother, Hoang Tich Thi Tam Trang, was moved to see that her son not only loved painting but also respected his teacher, so she founded MCAS and invited Thao Uyen with the initial intention of being Dorjee’s private art tutor. After a while, because she wanted to share with families with children in the same situation, Trang decided to turn MCAS into a class for autistic children. MCAS is both an ideal playground and a second home for these lovely children.

Teacher Thao Uyen confided: "Learning to draw prioritizes comfort. No matter what direction the drawing is, I encourage students to learn by themselves, be creative, and draw the topics they like, without creating pressure or constraints. The most important thing is to build a completely suitable environment for autistic children to integrate, connect and open up to the outside world ."

Because of their difficulty in controlling their behavior and communication, many children have been sent home by their schools. That is why MCAS is always ready to welcome them. However, there are times when they lose control and have to postpone their art lessons, spend time on treatment, and wait until they are stable before they can return to class. Therefore, class sizes often fluctuate. However, whenever they return, they are always welcomed and loved.

To truly connect and create the desired results for students, Thao Uyen must prepare a special teaching method and design art materials specifically for each child. Children are free to draw anything they like. The teacher accompanies them closely, supporting complex strokes, guiding color combinations and arranging the layout appropriately so that the work is both aesthetically pleasing and has its own emotions.

To enter the world of autistic children, Ms. Thao Uyen always invests time observing them, understanding the psychology and personality traits of each case. Thanks to that, she knows by heart each student's personality, strengths and weaknesses.

"Loi's hands are weak, so when he first started drawing, he had to learn to connect each stroke. Quan is meticulous in every detail, Cat Tuong is the most stable in terms of language but sometimes she can't control it. There are many students who don't even have the language to express themselves, they can't speak" - the young teacher emotionally talks about her beloved students.

Attempts to draw the future

Wishing to contribute to a stable future for autistic children, Ms. Trang and teacher Thao Uyen used the children's drawings to print on shirts and mesh bags. In the classroom, many shirt and mesh bag samples were displayed so that visitors could experience the quality of the products and observe how the children meticulously and passionately created their works of art.

The money from selling these products is also the income of the students. Through that, these students gain recognition from the community, the children in the class realize their passion, become real artists, and make practical contributions to society with their well-crafted art products.

With the spirit of love and sharing, the class does not charge tuition fees but also fully supports each student with art tools. Although free, the class is fully invested, with quality equipment, meeting the needs of students to learn painting.

The space here is displayed like a professional art shop. The paintings hung on the wall have a variety of themes, from drawings of people, objects, portraits to hand-cut and paper-pasted paintings.

Not only that, each child also has an album to store their own works. In the corner of each painting is signed, clearly stating the date to identify the author and the time of completion of each product.

The timeline on the paintings is also evidence of the development of each of the children's works, from the first pages when the drawings were still sketchy and simple to the current drawings that have become more outstanding. Through that, the expertise is also shown in the way the children arrange and use the layout blocks along with the ability to combine harmonious and eye-catching colors for their "brainchild".

With the dedicated and enthusiastic guidance of teacher Thao Uyen and the care and patient companionship of the class founder, the potential and love for colors and lines of the students have been strongly aroused. The joy of the teacher, the students, and the parents is to see the students progress very quickly compared to when they first started. Each scribbled line over time has now gradually become paintings of artistic value, containing many precious spiritual meanings for the community.

Ms. Thao Uyen cherishes every moment with her students. She cherishes each of their works and devotes her whole heart to the class with the great reward of seeing the children grow, even if only a little. No matter how hard it is, as long as the students do not give up, the teacher is always there, wholeheartedly caring for and believing in them.

Full of love

Not only imparting painting skills, Ms. Thao Uyen also actively researches and studies to intervene in behavioral control and language therapy for children. Although she does not have much expertise in psychological treatment, the sincere love she has for her profession and for the children is always full.