Support Inclusion & Empower Autistic Youth!

Spectrum Laboratory is a 501c3 nonprofit that helps artists on the autism spectrum to create original works of film, music and animation. We are about to celebrate our 5th year and we need your help to continue to educate, empower and train neurodivergent youth and adults for jobs in the entertainment industry!

Some of our students have:

-Booked recurring roles on prominent TV shows, such as Domonique Brown & Spencer Harte from the Netflix series "Atypical." We have also been getting our talent numerous auditions for Film, TV & Commercials.
-Written music for an original song on Sesame Street.
-Produced the FIRST EVER virtual reality musical on Autism for Facebook and Oculus.
-Hired to do animation for the feature film “Schlitzie: One Of Us.”
-Just finished production on a fully inclusive short film, “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses”, about a transgender autistic individual, inspired and co-written by student Aloni Schorin, hitting the film festival circuit in 2020. Spec Labs hired neurodivergent artists to work on the film, on and off camera!
-Released 10 full length albums and more than 100 songs from our record label Spec Lab Records, which aims to help our artists find opportunities to promote their music. 

Why we are raising money:

-Four years ago, we had just six students. We now have 50 students and are trying to grow our reach to accommodate 150 students in 2020.
-We provide scholarships for nearly half of our student base, but are facing a growing demand for scholarships we are not yet able to meet.
-Currently we are in multiple locations and space is very limited. We need a dedicated space to expand and build a production facility that can house more film, music and animation projects, as well as accommodate our high demand for more educational and job training programs. 

Some important statistics:

-Less than 3% of all scripted characters are shown to have a disability.
-People with disabilities make up nearly 20% of the population.
-95% of the time, these characters are played by actors without disabilities.
-Unemployment rate in autistic adults, including college graduates, is around 80%.

Help us  continue our mission to provide education, employment opportunities and scholarships for our incredible artists on the spectrum!

Check out our website to learn more at www.speclabs.org

Voice Over Acting Workshop with Tom Kenny! (voice of SpongeBob SquarePants)