Me and Adi

What I like about Adi is that he is my best friend in need.

Adi has been my mentor since the second annual Autism Tree Project Foundation - 

University of San Diego Football Mentor Program. 

Adi's real name was Al Rilwan Adeyemi. He is originally from Nigeria which is the country of the continent of Africa.

Adi's family now lives in Santa Monica, California, and he lives near the 

University of San Diego campus. Adi goes there to be a football player under supervision by Coach Ron Caragher.

Sometimes, Adi and I go on outings together.  I have fun with him.

Adi is like my adoptive brother just like Kyle Negrete who is also my best friend.  

Football season is about to begin. I look forward to seeing Adi play and hope the Toreros have a winning season.  Here are some pictures of us and a video of Adi speaking at the new ATPF office.

on the field at USD

Tio Leo's with Adi,(Far left), Joel, Kyle, and Jon Jon(Far right).

Locker room

My caricatures of Adi and me

another picture

Fantastic Art Show in Hollywood

Last thursday, May 19, 2011, Joel met up with Kyle Negrete at Barnsdall Gallery Park in Hollywood and together they set up his art pieces, his easels, his table, and even his business cards.

Keri Bowers greeted them, and so did Dani Bowman, Scott Siegel from the Arrest My Sister band, Nick Guzman, Debbie Hosseini, and Joel's buddy, Al-Rilwan Adeyemi.

Joel gave his friends gifts like caricatures he made of his friends, including Keri Bowers.Joel was thrilled that he sold a few paintings, cards, and photo cubes with art in them. He worked at his art sale from 5 pm to 9:30 pm until he got really tired and started to pack up and ready to head for home.

Inspiration at the Easel: Concert of Prayer

I painted this girl praying for the posters and flyers for the very first Concert of Prayer in 2009. My teacher, fine artist Paul Ryker, helped me with many new techniques such as light to dark. Those techniques gave a whole new dimension to my work.  Sometimes I paint what I want. Other times I enjoy getting a specific assignment.  This one conveys what happens at the Concert of Prayer.  I sold prints of this piece at a Joni and Friends event so that a little boy with autism in China could afford to go to a special school.

Wonderful worship @ Concert of Prayer

On the morning of May 21st, 2011, Joel Anderson and his family arrived at North Coast Calvary Church in Carlsbad and began to set up his art pieces on a table. Also, Kyle Negrete, Tobias Haglund, Jasmine Prince, and Pastor Orville, the leader of the church, showed up and got ready for the concert. After the Cullum family prayed to God for Joel and Kyle, the two shared about each of their stories on how he and Kyle got to know each other. After the concert is over, Joel noticed that someone has brought Gluten-Free cookies and lemonade for the guests, especially him. Boy, is he lucky? Later, the participants packed up and left the church.

Joel shared his story about Kyle became his friend, mentor and then brother.  He used the verse Proverbs 18:24b which says, "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."  Afterwards, Joel went to eat pizza on a food holiday. It was then that he said, "It went good. I felt included."

The sky's the limit! Public speaking Saturday at Concert of Prayer.

I am going to speak at the Concert of Prayer at the North Coast Calvary Church in Carlsbad on May 21st, 2011. I'm going to have my friends, Kyle Negrete, Tobias Haglund, and Jasmine Prince to accompany me for this event. Mom made a bulletin board to display pictures of me and Kyle throughout the years.

Kyle is my friend who was a college football player who was in University of San Diego and University of Southern California. He and I first met at the first annual ATPF/ USD football mentor program since 2009. He became my mentor and team liaison for the first year until the next year the team liaison was given to Al Rilwan Adeyemi. He and I are gonna talk about how much we love God. The Concert of Prayer event is at 10 am, if you live in Southern California, come on over.

Hooray for Hollywood!

Debra Hosseini and Keri Bowers are working together on an event in Hollywood, California. At Barnsdall Gallery Theater on May 19 at 6:00pm, they will launch a national art tour and release the book Artism, The Art of Autism.

I am featured in the book on page 54-56.  Many talented artists from around the world are also in the book, including Temple Grandin, Jason Cantu, and Donna Williams. It felt famous to be included!

Ask me anything

My interview with Tim from ANCA went well. I did very successfully with a speaker phone at my house. It lasted for an hour.  I practiced reading my answers I had written down. It really helped to have the questions in advance.

In case you missed the interview, here is my personal favorite:

You took up painting at age eleven.  How had your art progressed at that point?

I first used paints when I went to a local painting class for kids. The teacher’s only rule is to fill the whole canvas with paint. My big improvement was me painting a 30 in. x 40 in. painting of Mona Lisa, a classic painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. These inspirations from art history books including Van Gogh, Picasso, and Raphael inspires me to develop my talent to paint replicas of famous paintings.

This is my third painting ever which I painted in that kids class when I was 10 years old.  It's titled "The Big Apple."  It was inspired by the video Animated Hero Classics, Leonardo DaVinci.

On the Air!

I'm going to interview with the Blogtalkradio.com this Sunday.  The people from Naturally Autistic in Canada gave them my name.  Last October, they chose me as the winner of their inaugural International Award of Achievement for Adults with Autism in Community Service. I was nominated for my work with Autism Tree Project Foundation.  I felt blessed when they gave me the award.  Here is a video of my acceptance speech and a video I produced showing my achievement.  (Start the counter at 5:55.)

I met Tim at the awards ceremony in Vancouver at the the University of British Columbia.  He presented the ANCA award to me. He will host the radio show.

Click here to listen. Live at noon on Mother's Day!