Autism Art Expo

An annual celebration of art and inspiration

Each year, we present an art expo to celebrate artwork created by autistic individuals who utilize art as a means of expression, as well as pieces created by artists and communities celebrating autism acceptance. This popular event is held annually in April.

Thursday, April 24th- 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Friday, April 25th- 9:00am to 3:00pm

Your ideas welcome

We are now accepting Arts for the 2025 Autism Art Expo!
This year’s theme: Spectrum Of Expression/Unspoken Minds from the Inside.

Featuring The Art for this Year 2025.

My world is intense.
I am autistic.
All of my feelings are big.
Even the feelings about unchanged laundry or the sound a toothbrush makes as it scrapes across someone else's teeth.
I am not overreacting.
I am reacting.
I am reacting to the way I experience the world.
BIG.
What does neurodivergence actually mean?
If neurology is different for everyone, is divergent the norm?
My experience says I am not normal, though your words constantly beg me to believe I am.
My empathy is BIG and mostly painful.
My empathy is alien, like a tail, in a world that defaults to cruelty.
I use so many words I am choking on them, yet my language still seems otherworldly and confusing.
I see the things you try to hide and MY brain focuses in - Hard.
I do not want to see the things.
I want to live in peace.
I want to live and love as me.
My threshold, an emotional boundary from your chaos and complexities, is but mere white grave

-K Ryan Steiner

Submit your Art Work to the 2025 Art Expo!

Autistic artists (or anyone who wants to support Autism Acceptance Month) are encouraged to submit artwork of any medium to be displayed online as part of the 12th Annual Autism Art Expo! Group/multiple submissions are also encouraged (see info below). Have a question? Email handsart@iupui.edu.

Send us photos and videos of your paintings, drawings, poetry, crafts, group activities, music, dance, and digital media!

Submit your artwork today!

Additional submission information:

While we are happy to tweak artwork that is submitted to make sure it is displayed in the most accurate and polished way possible, there are some things you can do to make you artwork look its best.

For non-photographers, the following tips may help you:

Use a camera or cell phone that takes good pictures.
Make sure the place where you are taking pictures has plenty of light.
Adjust the location of the artwork and the camera so that there are no shadows or light glares showing up in the photo.
Take pictures as close to straight-ahead as you can, instead of at an angle.
Try placing the artwork flat on the ground and standing above it if you have trouble with the artwork leaning against the wall.
If you have drawings and access to a photo/document scanner, this is also a good way to capture the art. Make sure the settings are on “photo” and “high resolution.”

If you would like to submit more than 3 pieces of art, you can do so by:

Uploading all artwork to a Google Drive folder
You can categorize different artists’ work into separate folders within a larger, group folder
Change the name of each artist’s folder or document to their full name (or first name with last initial) and title of their artwork
Share the editable link with us by email to HANDSart@iupui.edu

If you are not sure how to do any of this, please let us know by email and we will assist where needed!

Explore galleries from past years

2024: HANDS UNITED, COMMUNITIES CONNECTED

2023: Express Yourself

2022: Au-wesome Possibilities

2021: Resilient

2019