Sylvia Burnstein-An autistic artist

Sylvia Burnstein is an autistic artist.

This story is about how an autistic girl deals with life’s struggles by turning art into her secret language to express love and loss.

It centers on a special artist named Sylvia who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at the age of 3. She connects with the world through art, especially early on by drawing characters with only one eye. Art has become the key to unlocking the door for Sylvia, a girl who has a mentality of a 5-year-old stuck inside the body of a 16-year-old.

Sylvia demonstrated her artistic talents at a very young age with her first drawing when she was only 3 years old. While having significant speaking and learning difficulties, art was Sylvia’s outlet to the world. Sylvia’s vibrant and often unique drawings say loudly, what words otherwise fail to say. Sylvia’s artworks with bright colors, unique shapes and one-eyed characters provide us with a glimpse into her imaginative and inventive mind. Seeing Sylvia's art gives one hope as you can see her 'Disorder' is producing beautiful pieces of art we have yet to fully interpret.

Sylvia’s art pieces, numbering well over 1000 now, have become windows to the fantastical and beautiful worlds she creates. Her artworks have rarely been seen by the rest of the world and as such, we would like to hold an art exhibition for Sylvia to showcase her extraordinary and unique craft to her community and the world for the very first time. This event is extremely important for Sylvia’s family.