COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An artist mother and son say the wave of recognition they've received has been nothing short of life changing. Now, they're helping others step into the spotlight alongside them.
It was two years ago I first met Thomas Golz and his mom Jennifer Gray. They've been on a journey for a few years.
"Thomas is an autistic young man," Jennifer said, sitting with Thomas in 2023.
Thomas was working at The Exceptional Bean in Cookeville, a coffee shop that employs people of all abilities. At this point, Thomas and Jennifer were starting to build buzz about their dioramas. One they created was of The Exceptional Bean. It was a miniature size recreation of the building.
"He must see detail I don't because he will put things in the diorama that I'll look back at the place and say, 'oh yeah, there's that,'" Jennifer said. "I think that's part of his autism is he notices the minutia of a place."
Thomas and Jennifer's work just kept growing in popularity to the point they even had an art show last year.
"We've tried in Cookeville to capture the iconic locations," Jennifer said.
That includes the diorama the two created of Ralph's Donuts.
"When you have a special needs child, you hope for them to to be able to have accomplishments," Jennifer said, turning her attention to the dioramas. "It's opened up a lot. It's given us a lot of hope."
That's a feeling Jennifer wanted to share.
She got in contact with The Silver Fern in downtown Cookeville with an idea for their Fiddlehead Gallery.
The Exceptional Art Show has just opened, running at The Silver Fern through the end of August. It features the work of ten local artists with disabilities.
"I love to paint," said artist Heather Bouchillon, showcasing several of her pieces. "I don't care what I paint as long as I'm painting."
Besides Heather's work, there are the paintings of Chad Perkins, abstracts by Ashley Weaver, pieces by Lori Manke, and necklaces created by Matthew Kulis.
"I did Summer Bees and then Refreshing Fruit," said artist Rachel Hof, guiding us to two of her pieces.
Some jewelry pieces are by Katy Collins, Breanna Sells stood by to show one of her latest. Then there's the work of Bradley Styer.
"Which one's your favorite, Bradley, out of all those that you did?" Bradley's mother asked him as they looked at a wall of his art.
"That one!" Bradley pointed. "The bird one!"
"That one's really, really pretty."
For the artists, there are two things that are especially wonderful about the show.
"I've never had anything like this before," Heather said.
It's that and also, they get to have this show alongside friends. A lot of the artists know each other.
"It's very rewarding and very exciting," Rachel agreed.
"We wanted to honor other artists in the area," Jennifer said "We knew so many people living with special needs have so many talents. I'm amazed at the work they turned out. This places people in the spotlight who belong in the spotlight. We wanted to open the opportunity for people to get to know these really talented people in our community. It's been so wonderful. They've been so thrilled to tell family members they're in this show."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
