Students' artwork paints picture of mutual respect Fifth-graders team with autistic children on quilt project BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - During Autism Awareness Month in April, Suzann Brucato took the time to speak with her daughter's fifth-grade class at Lincroft Elementary School to provide an autism awareness presentation. The previous year, Brucato discussed autism awareness in light of volunteerism as a career. This year though, she stressed the importance of equality and the ability of everyone being able to contribute to society. "Part of my goal has always been to be able to educate children about autism," Brucato said. "I wanted kids to know that they have equals out in the community and they don't necessarily have to be kids you know or even kids that you go to school with. Even kids who do have autism have excellent skills, and I wanted my daughter's class to know that." The lessons that Amy Staudt's students gained that day turned into far more than just a classroom experience. Brucato gave the kids a script to follow so they could educate other students in the school on what they had learned. From there, the wheels really went into motion, with Brucato, a Web site designer and developer with numerous contacts in the autism community, looking for a way to educate even more people about autism, especially those outside of the school. "Suzann asked my organization to participate and right from the start I thought it was a nice touch that she wanted to get more people involved in her project," said Liz Abadiotakis, co-director of The Interactive Playground and Wellness Center, a pediatric outpatient facility located in Freehold. "She wanted to educate the community about autism and we were all for it." The project Abadiotakis refers to is a paper quilt that Brucato thought would be a good idea to create in an effort to display the artwork of Staudt's 21 students, plus nine others who work with Abadiotakis at Interactive Playground. In all, 30 students would work on their own individual art projects, highlighting the importance of autism education. Each project was done on an 8 1/2-by-11-inch piece of paper. The end result, according to Brucato, was a group of ecstatic young people. "It's important for the kids not to create barriers that adults have created," Brucato explained. "We always need to do more to help people, and with this project I think the kids got the message. They were enthusiastic right from the beginning." Abadiotakis said the nine people she involved in the project benefited from the program. "We chose kids that we thought would enjoy it and they did," Abadiotakis said. "But also, the kids at Lincroft Elementary School saw that the kids from Interactive Playground weren't much different from them. They were creative and they got the job done as well. Our kids were able to gain acceptance from this project, and I know that the kids from Lincroft were impressed what they saw." The art project can be seen at www.worksmarternowforautism.com/2007travelingartshow.html.