Ep.22 ”Finding My People!” Neurodiverse young people steal the show at ActionPlay

All Power To The Developing!

Meet ActionPlay, a bold and brave performing arts program empowering young people on the autism spectrum. Carrie Lobman talks to founder Aaron Feinstein and his creative collaborators, Jackson Tucker-Meyer and Edison Weinstein, about the wondrous ActionPlay zone where neurodiverse ensembles (mentored and cheered on by their friends, family and professional theatre and film supporters) sing, dance and perform their hearts out to create a playful space where no one must conform and all can belong. “It’s my social spot…my happy place! A place to feel new emotions."

https://actionplay.org/

https://www.today.com/video/how-actionplay-is-empowering-actors-with-autism-112455749808

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Welcome to All Power to the Developing, a podcast of the East Side Institute. The Institute is a center for social change efforts that reinitiate human and community development. We support, connect and partner with committed and creative activists, scholars, artists, helpers and healers all over the world. In 2003, Institute co-founders Lois Holzman and the late Fred Newman had a paper published with the title “All Power to the Developing.” This phrase captures how vital it is for all people—no matter their age, circumstance, status, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation—to grow, develop and transform emotionally, socially and intellectually if we are to have a shot at creating something positive out of the intense crises we’re all experiencing. We hope that this podcast series will show you that, far more than a slogan, “all power to the developing” is a loving activity, a pulsing heart in an all too cruel world.

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The East Side Institute is a hub for a diverse and emergent community of social activists, thought leaders, and practitioners who are reigniting our human abilities to imagine, create and perform beyond ourselves—to develop. Each episode will introduce you to another performance activist or play revolutionary from around the world. To learn more about the East Side Institute you can go to https://eastsideinstitute.org/ Made possible in part by Growing Social Therapeutics: The Baylah Wolfe Fund.