News

Think you can't draw?

Then here's an art competition for you!

The Hoffmann Foundation for Autism Prize for Drawing and Painting 'not everything which falls out of line, what is accordingly abnormal, must on that account already be inferior' (Hans Asperger, 1938).

The Hoffmann Foundation for Autism Prize and exhibition has as its object the need to confront the dominance of art that depends upon strict adherence to the normal visual rules that act as a barrier to people with perceptual and co-ordination problems and to advocate the inclusion of their divergent formal approaches. It especially welcomes entries from people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Aspergers' Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Apraxia and Agnosia.

The competition and exhibition, the first of its kind will help establish the special and unique characteristics in the work of people who are autistic, the visual principles that reflect the way they understand and relate to the world around them. It aims to discover links between these principles and establish a practical method of understanding how art can be made enjoyed and shared in this new way. 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 and varied as any other art. There are large cash prizes available.

The Hoffmann Foundation for Autism was founded by Alice Hoffmann de Visme OBE in 1955 as the Noah's Ark Trust, a school for children that statutory services had failed. The trust grew and now has five residential homes and a day centre providing services for adults with autistic spectrum disorders. The art department of the day service began exhibiting the drawings and paintings of its service users in 1995 and has held 27 exhibitions. It became 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 the world. Experience has taught us that even today exclusions are practised by organisations that receive public funds and that prejudice against people with learning difficulties can be disguised as erudition and taste. The competition and exhibition will support the definition of a new canon within the modern aesthetic.

Entry Form

Information Sheet

The International Film Festival of Films and Documentary on Autism, to be held later this year, is the second and much expanded festival of it's kind held by the Art and Craft Workshop of the Alice Hoffmann Foundation for Autism. It will be held over three or four of days and include 15 feature films and 5 documentaries, shown in the chronological order of their production. The 'festival' belongs to a very new way of looking at ASD as a social and cultural construction, mirroring the needs of contemporary society while developing the theme of what it means to be an autistic outsider. There will be refreshments for sale and time between each film for discussion of its contents.

Click here for More information

Please click here to view article from The Times Newspaper about artist Theo Attah

Please click here to view article from The Wharf Newpaper about artisit William Long