Download Visionaries from mobile gaming industry underwrite Exceptional

Contact: Dee McVicker
Grassroots Communications
Gilbert, Arizona
480.545.7363
[email protected]
Exceptional Minds is a non-profit vocational center and working
For
Immediate
Release
production
studio
for young adults on the autism spectrum. Chartered in
November
9,
2012
2011 to provide the training necessary for visually-gifted ASD individuals
who may not otherwise be able to make the transition from high school
to the working world, Exceptional Minds offers technical proficiency and
Visionaries from mobile gaming industry underwrite Exceptional
work readiness skills that prepare students for careers in graphic arts,
Minds,
adesign,
new visual
vocational
young
adults on the autism
animation,
web
effects andacademy
rotoscoping. for
Located
in
Sherman Oaks, California, Exceptional Minds spectrum
is both an instructional
learning facility and a working studio with hands-on student involvement
Sherman
Oaks,projects,
Calif. – many
As thefor
tidal
of unemployed and underemployed individuals with Autism
in production
thewave
film industry.
Spectrum Disorder (ASD) begins to swell, and with little to no government funding in sight, two
visionaries from the mobile gaming industry are leading the charge for gainful employment among those
with ASD.
Private investors Bob Stevenson and Neil Young, who co-founded mobile gaming company Ngmoco,
provided critical initial funding for a new approach to vocational training of young adults on the autism
spectrum. In early 2011, the two underwrote an idea that became Exceptional Minds, a new vocational
academy and working studio for young adults on the spectrum that has since gone from idea to
Hollywood prodigy with several movie projects under its belt, including title work for major motion
picture Lawless.
With one in 88 kids diagnosed with autism, Exceptional Minds is now being lauded as the poster child
for what’s next for individuals with ASD, many of whom are underemployed or unemployed yet
demonstrate an aptitude for computer animation and technology in general.
“Bob and Neil come at autism from a very different perspective than most of us, having both been
involved in the technology sector. They understand the unique relationship between autism and
computers, and I think that’s why they were able to appreciate what we were trying to accomplish with
Exceptional Minds when it was still just a germ of an idea,” says Yudi Bennett, the director of operations
for Exceptional Minds, and the parent of a young adult on the autism spectrum.
Exceptional Minds was started by Bennett and other pioneers in the film and visual effects industries as
a bridge between high school and the working world for individuals with ASD.
“Computers and animation and video post-production, this is the world the autism community is
passionate about, so it made sense to us that there should be a school like Exceptional Minds to show
these individuals how to translate that passion into employment,” says Stevenson.
Exceptional Minds started its second school year in August with a waiting list for enrollment. Its threeyear program includes technical training for Adobe (ACA) certification, job readiness skills and a
professional reel/portfolio that graduates can use to seek employment in the fields of animation,
computer graphics and post production.
Stevenson and Young continue to underwrite Exceptional Minds, and are now joined by Adobe Systems,
DreamWorks, Visual Effects Society, Luminous Capital, Riordan Foundation, New York Community Trust,
and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors Foundation, among others, in supporting the new vocational
academy.
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