Autism and the arts

Recent articles

Brains of many colors with people standing on them, coming out of the shadows

Book Review: ‘Nobody’s Normal’ chronicles the intertwined history of mental illness and stigma

Anthropologist and autism expert Richard Roy Grinker’s latest title reveals how our definitions of mental illnesses and notions of ‘normality’ reek of cultural biases that stop many from seeking help.

By Claudia Wallis
26 January 2021 | 6 min read
young autistic girl in playroom with a tennis ball that matches her yellow dyed hair.

Inside a summer camp for autistic children in Russia

Photographs show how a camp in St. Petersburg this summer helped children on the spectrum and their families find some fun during the pandemic.

By Polina Porotskaya
1 September 2020 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of birdsong, bird brain, and DNA.

This paper changed my life: Embracing an early model for naturalistic neuroscience

A 1992 PNAS paper showed how birdsong upregulates the expression of an immediate early gene in bird forebrains. The work revealed to Ribeiro the importance of studying molecular responses in naturalistic contexts.

By Sidarta Ribeiro
14 July 2026 | 4 min read
Illustration of an open journal featuring lines of text and small illustrations of eyes and mouths.

Major ischemic events in autistic people, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 13 July.

By Jill Adams
14 July 2026 | 1 min read
Illustration of lucid dreaming.

Watching the mind build a world: Lucid dreaming as a model for generative perception

Lucid dreaming offers a rare opportunity to observe and probe perception from within.

By Magdalena Paluchowska
13 July 2026 | 8 min read