The 22^nd floor gallery at the Florida Capitol is the setting for the exhibition, “The Way I Speak: Artists and Autism” curated by Susan Baldino of VSA Florida and Allison Leatzow of the Florida State University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (FSU CARD). The fourth in a series of projects by the two collaborators, it enables creative voices from the autism community to be heard and sustained. The exhibition consists of works from across the State of Florida in a variety of media The theme of the show is inspired by the prolific oeuvre of Madison Hongyee, a young Walton County art student who struggles to verbalize feelings but can eloquently express her ideas with markers and paper. Madison’s repeated renditions of television characters is the primary “Way She Speaks.” She has been featured in four exhibitions and was presented a VSA Florida Student Award in 2016.

A special thematic area at the exhibition includes the large-scale community artworks, Together and Able and Together and Able II completed by more than a thousand people who contributed their words and phrases about difference, inclusion, and human rights.