Running a creative business with an autistic non-verbal brother isn’t an idea you’d see as common. Well, nothing my brother does is ordinary, hence the business that represents his voice, his autism, his personality, and self must be done differently. When I heard Greta Thunberg say regarding being autistic that “Being different is a gift It makes me see things from outside the box.”, I realized that’s exactly what I’ve learned from my brother and applied in my life and our business. As creative minds we think outside of the box because we want to do things differently, we don’t want to be common or ordinary. Being an artist and creative mind myself, you can see how working with a creative autistic brother is a perfect match. We combine our own unique gifts and create things no one’s has ever done before.

Back in 2014, when Samko was 12, he brought home this epic painting that blew our minds, I always believed he is capable of amazing achievements even though I hadn’t seen any proof until then. But when I saw these first paintings, especially the blue colorful one painted on a big A2 paper, I was blown away. My brother did THIS? He can’t speak, write, draw, hold a pen or a brush, how did he achieve THIS? With hands and tools that his art therapist teacher showed him. She showed him different ways and he picked his favorite ones. Now it’s his creative process is just his bare hands and the paint.

In 2016 I came home to Slovakia from London for a summer holiday. I just graduated with BA in Television Production at the University of Westminster, since my intention was to use media for good, for telling inspiring stories. So as I sat down at my laptop I got an idea. I want the world to see my brother’s epic art, I don’t want it to be just hanging on a wall unseen by the masses. I didn’t even think about the connection between making his art visible and the fact autism is an invisible disability. I just wanted my brother to be seen for who he is. Not feared, judged, called names like “stupid” or “naughty”. I wanted people to see HIM and how awesome and talented he is!

So I grabbed my camera, took photos of Samko’s first paintings, and threw it into Adobe Photoshop. I edited the image by putting it into a simple circle and called it planets. That’s what it looked like to me. Like different planets from a different galaxy that are so beautifully unique, like my brother and his world. My brother felt like an alien in this world that struggled to understand him, so I wanted him to show us his world and educate us, inspire us through his art. I created the first mockups in Photoshop and showed them to Samko with a simple question: “Which one do you like the most?” He pointed at the design below which I called “Blue Planet”. This design became the one we gifted to Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick, the one that represents our business, our brand, and our organization.

Having Ben Affleck praise our business on national TV was a thing I could never ever imagine or dream of, we had nothing, just an idea, vision, t-shirt, and a very small audience. I didn’t even know how to run a business or build a brand. So I decided to invest in learning everything about building a brand, creative business, and testing the ground with my brother. In 2020 when the pandemic started we re-launched our business and called it Happy Autism with the intention to spread inspiration, and joy and empower the families that we knew would face challenges during these uncertain times with the global pandemic. The launch was way more successful than we thought and Samko has taken on the role of a Creative Director since he become an adult that year, turned 18, and had no possibility for employment. We are artists, we have a hard time being employed, so we crafted our own story and journey towards creative independence and success. We documented this story in our documentary series called “Road to Independence” funded by Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund released in 2020. For post-production, we used Premiere Pro and Samko loved to see the edit and approve the scenes that captured his artistic journey.

Our new collection was called the Spectrum Collection, inspired by the autism spectrum and the spectrum of colors that Samko dives in and puts on a canvas. As the Creative Director, a role we created because it’s HIS art and HIS creative voice and expression, was the key in the creation of the product, branding, and the brand. The same way I used Adobe Photoshop to help Samko communicate his choice of favorite design that we gifted Ben Affleck, the same way he chose all the products of the Spectrum Collection. Simply, I took all the mockups and threw them on a simple layout in Photoshop, and asked Samko to choose his favorite ones. He pointed at those he loved the most and bam, the collection was born. This might sound simple, which is but the point was the intention, my mindset which I call the “ability mindset” which forces me to let go of my perfectionism, and control and puts the final decision and important ones that represent Samko into Samko’s hands. I had to fight the internalized stigma that was imprinted into my brain by the society and culture in my childhood and fear of failure and do unconventional things, think differently, outside of the box, like Samko, Greta and other amazing autistic people and artists do.

Samko enjoyed every part of his creative independency and role that led him to lead me and the direction of our business and I found the purpose and motivation to show the world what amazing things autistic people are able to achieve. I have learned how to think outside of the box and apply it to our business. Who would have thought Adobe Photoshop could be used as such a great tool for non-verbal visual communication? See? That’s one of the great examples and results of the great things my brother has taught me. Now I can teach others how to do the same. Now I can be his voice and bridge between the worlds.