The art department of the Day Service began exhibiting the drawings and paintings of its service users in 1995 and has held 31 exhibitions.

It has become evident that the work was strongly influenced by autism and its co-morbid conditions, what was being shown were very different ways of looking at and understanding the world.

The objective of the exhibition is to confront the dominance of art that depends upon strict adherence to normal visual rules. These rules act as a barrier to people with perceptual and co-ordination problems and we encourage their unorthodox approach to the visual medium.

We especially welcome entries from people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Aspergers’ Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, PDD-NOS, Apraxia and Agnosia.

The competition and exhibition, in its second year, will help establish the special and unique characteristics in the work of people who are autistic and the exceptional visual principles that reflect the way they understand and relate to the world around them.

It aims to discover potential links between these principles and establish a practical method of understanding how art can be made, enjoyed and shared in this new and unique way.

There is total prize money of £1,500 available. It’s hoped that the prizes will encourage artists with autism and related disorders to feel confident about the different way they make pictures and show that their work is as skilled, exciting and varied as any other art.

Art Entry Information

Artists or their guardians can submit entries prior to the exhibition.The last date for receiving entries is Friday 2nd July 2010.

The entry fee is £10.00 per entry and you can sumbit multiple entries. The entry fee will fund prizes and the cost of the venue.

Artists are encouraged to place a price on the artwork and offer it for sale to exhibition visitors. The gallery and HFFA will liaise with the artist or their guardian to confirm the sale. You will not be charged a commission for this.

The general rules for entry are as follows

• All work must be framed, clip frames are not acceptable.
• The work must have been produced within the past two years.
• Work must be of a reasonable size and format.
• Work must be transported to and from the day service by the artist or the artist’s agents and collected from there by them, after the exhibition.
• The Hoffmann Foundation for Autism does not accept any liability for damage to the work however caused and competitors should explore their own insurance options.
• The Judges decision is final.

All artwork should be brought to 2 Park Avenue and collected from there at the end of the exhibition, not the gallery.

Please complete an entry form (download link below) for each work of art. Don't forget to also complete and attach a label (also downloaded below) to the back of the artwork to help us identify your work.

Please bring in or send your work to the following address:

The Exhibition Coordinator
The Art & Craft Studios
The Hoffmann Foundation for Autism
2 Park Avenue
Wood Green
London N22 7EX

If you have any questions about the competition please contact the Art Department team. For a location map and contact details see here.