Please help our gifted and artistic daughter with autism who is nonverbal, express herself through art. You can partner with us to raise the funds needed for her continued art lessons and art supplies, and get us a step closer to achieving our dream of exhibiting her art in art galleries to reach a larger audience.

My 13 year-old daughter, Eunbee Esther Kim, is nonverbal. Eunbee has autism, as well as a more recently diagnosed tic disorder. When things get stressful, she engages in continuous tic behaviors, at times up to one episode per minute. Some people are surprised to hear that she is largely nonverbal as she can sing quite beautifully, but she cannot speak in sentences unless she has memorized a script, and the song lyrics are learned through numerous repetitions or script-training. She knows how to ask for her favorite things using 1-3 words, and when asked will proudly assert that her favorite food is "Pepperoni Pizza" or "Ottogi Jin Ramen".

For years when Eunbee was younger, she exhibited ritualistic and self-stimulatory behaviors of flicking her fingers in front of her eyes while gazing at bright lights. Over time with the help of various behavior therapists and artists, she was able to replace her constant finger-flicking with the repetitive motion of intensely focused coloring using markers and gel pens (see colored lion below), and also learned to draw and paint.

Eunbee's journey with art began with her love for rainbows. She drew and colored rainbows all the time- at home, at school, wherever she went! Soon this translated into creating works of art that were saturated by the colors of the rainbow. She even gave herself rainbow-colored skin for her self-portraits. Though her scope now extends beyond just rainbows and rainbow-colored scenery, she has always showed a preference for the spectrum of a rainbow. I like to think that this spectrum of colors represents the spectrum of autism that makes each child with autism so unique and wonderful like our Eunbee.

Eunbee continues to improve her skillls with weekly art lessons and to paint regularly at home. However, this costs a significant amount of money each year due to art lessons and the rising costs of art supplies, such as acrylics, oil paint, markers, canvases, and brushes. Eunbee will be showing her art in a couple of artshows this year, one in South Korea on October 1st, where two of her pieces will be showcased along with other students with autism. And here in the States, Eunbee will be presenting her first solo art exhibition at her local church, Yuong Sang Presyterian Church on October 15th. Our hope is that with enough funds raised, Eunbee will be able to show her art at larger venues and galleries to reach a broader audience and achieve a more global impact with her art.

Senator Maria Collett of the 12th District across parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties, commissioned Eunbee to paint a piece to showcase in her district office after reading the below article in The Intelligencer.

Without art, I believe my daughter would still be flicking her fingers in front of her eyes or engaging in more frequent complex tic or repetitive behaviors to pass her time. Through her story and art, we wish to spread hope to other families and individuals all over the globe affected by autism and the challenges it can bring. According to the latest CDC data, just in the US alone, there are 1 in 44 children identified with autism.

It is through her beautiful paintings, that Eunbee is empowered to share her unique and wondrous view of the world. Please partner with us to support our talented daughter to touch others with her unique way of expressing what is hidden inside her. Art enables her to reveal her amazing inner spirit and vision of the world seen through her eyes. Without art, she and our family would quite frankly be lost.

Our prayer and hope is for Eunbee to be able to speak through her most powerful form of communication to inspire others with autism to paint their own rainbows.