2009 10 12 Wendy Jacob Lecture On Mits Techtv

Artist and MIT professor Wendy Jacob speaks in this video about her recent work within her newly-established Autism Studio in the visual arts program there. Worth watching—she shows some recent work of her own, some of her students' projects, and then a new collaboration with a young boy diagnosed with autism, working to create a novel way to navigate through large open spaces.

This is, in my mind, some of the most exciting work going on right now. Our understanding of autism is constantly shifting, with new and sometimes contradictory findings about its neurological, bio-chemical, and behavioral manifestations appearing all the time. And that knowledge, in turn, sheds new light on our understanding of human intelligence and capability more generally. Here's a great article from Wired on this topic, and here's a shot of her past work in collaboration with Temple Grandin: