Arts Panel 1: Neurodivergent Artists and the Impact of Their Practice
Event Details:
Location
This event is open to:
Neurodivergent Artists and the Impact of Their Practice
Moderator: Shannon Des Roches Rosa
Objectives :
To give visibility and access to the arts for all, with opportunities to:
- Show how arts build community
- Grow self-confidence and self-awareness
- Feel satisfaction, joy, and beauty (find your people, feel safe and heard, express oneself)
- Find genuine interests and passions, and, for some, develop a vocation.
Amelia Whittlesey, Administrator Creative Growth Art Center
Amelia Whittlesey has been with Creative Growth Art Center since 2021, serving as the administrator and liaison to social service agencies that support the artists at CG. She has worked with artists with disabilities since 2005 and brings extensive experience in advocacy and program coordination. In addition to her administrative role, Amelia is also a practicing visual artist.
Avery Babon, Artist, Creative Growth Art Center
Avery Babon is a short filmmaker and sculptor, working primarily in the Creative Growth Digital Media Lab to write and direct his documentaries. In sculpture, he makes highly detailed models of birds and recreations of famous ships and planes. In 2020, Avery contributed to The Poem Is Telling Me I Remember, a chapbook that features poems collectively composed by Creative Growth artists during 2019–20.
William Scott, Artist, Creative Growth Art Center
William Scott has been at Creative Growth Art Center since 1992. William is a self-taught artist who creates visionary paintings that explore citizenship, community, and cultural memory through portraits of predominantly Black figures. Deeply rooted in personal history, his work includes depictions of civil rights leaders, musicians, family members, and fellow churchgoers. Describing himself as an “architect,” Scott reimagines San Francisco as “Praise Frisco”—a utopian city shaped by equity and civic care. His long-running *Inner Limits* series features spaceships designed to resurrect the dead and foster peace through “Wholesome Encounters.” Scott’s practice blends hope, transformation, and imagination to propose new social and spiritual possibilities.
Edna Arterberry, Mother of William Scott
Edna is a retired social worker with the Department of Human Services in San Francisco. Prior to this she has worked in Bayview Hunters Point for over 21 years as manager of The California Association for Health, Education, Employment and Dignity. She was on the advisory board of San Francisco General Hospital and the Southeast Health Center. She is actively involved in Cornerstone Baptist as a teacher for high school students and is a leader on the scholarship committee. Edna is the mother of the internationally distinguished artist, William Scott.
Therol “Terri” Spruill, Brother of William Scott
