Michael was born with what was called residual autism, and I didn't even know what autism was when he was born.

When they told me he was autistic, I thought they meant he was an artistic.

Funding for this program comes from the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation with additional support from the American Advertising Federation of Roanoke.

They're not the rich and famous.

Their profit comes not from the thing they sell, but the good they do.

Our nation has more than 1.5 million nonprofits that employ one out of 10 Americans providing services that otherwise go unfulfilled.

Keeping our community connected when all else fails.

But nonprofits often lack the tools to properly promote themselves, to inspire more donors and volunteers and clients to their cause.

That's where I come in.

I've been in the nonprofit world for nearly 20 years.

I connect nonprofits with marketing professionals who donate their time and expertise so that at the end of the day these life-giving organizations can do more, do better by creating more, that's right, buzz.

Last time on "Buzz", we introduced you to the nonprofit Children Of Slain Police Officers, AKA COSPO, which funds all college expenses for those who had a parent killed in the line of duty with the Birmingham Police Department.

So, I knew I wanted to like commemorate my dad in some way.

So, I wanted to get a tattoo, like I wanted something that was him.

And so, I actually, this exact picture, I got an outline of it tattooed on my shoulder so I can always have him with me.

Today, we're going to meet my friend and non-profit fundraising professional, Brooke Battle, whose company, Swell, is helping both COSPO and the nonprofit we're featuring on this episode.

As we head over to Irondale, whose iconic cafe was made famous in Fanny Flagg's "Fried Green Tomatoes".

Just as impactful is a small ramshackle building just over the tracks that helps those who are autistic become artistic.

(gentle music) My name is Merrilee Challiss, I'm the executive director of Studio By The Tracks and we are an organization that was founded in 1989 to serve a variety of populations and currently, we're focusing on honing our mission to serve only youth and adults on the autism spectrum.

What's your doggie's name?

What's your doggie's name?

His name's Max.

Max.

Oh, that's, the design is by Max.

That's so funny.

I'm Boo Gilder and I am the program director here at Studio By The Tracks.

I'm Lauren Cushman, I'm director of marketing and partnerships at Studio By The Tracks.

We're here to help them make their art.

So, we call it class, but truthfully, it's more like supported studio time.

So, if there are eight artists in the room, there are eight different creative journeys happening and eight different levels of support that we are offering to any given artist.

And that can range from just having a conversation about what concept they wanna work on and what sort of inspiration pictures we can find for them to physically helping them make the artwork, and everything in between.

So, we're really here at the studio to provide a platform for the studio artists for which to share their art with the community and with the world and just to kind of be a springboard for them and an entrepreneurship lane that they can kind of grow into and see results from that.

They get paychecks quarterly, they receive 60% of the sales of all of their artwork.

And it's just a really fun experience getting to give them their paycheck and see them open it.

We know how brilliant their art is, but there's something about having the affirmation of somebody purchasing your artwork and putting it in their home that sort of doubles down on that, yeah.

Yeah, and we tell them all day long how talented they are.

(Lauren and Boo laughing) But when they see their art, when we show them a photo that someone has sent in that their art is in someone's home, or their gallery, or whatever, it just brings them so much joy and they see their faces light up and it's just like the most wonderful, heartwarming thing that you can imagine.

It brings us joy too.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

You welcome.

You welcome.

I'm sorry you always question, you okay?

It's okay, ask if you want to.

So about that, okay?

Okay.

Now.

Sometimes people with autism experience what's called restrictive interests where they may have a real, like honing in of one particular either subject matter, or topic, or interest.

And so, they're able to focus in a way that is really admirable to see where they may just, you know, not be distracted by other things and just focus in.

So, that's something that definitely serves people that identify as artists.

That ability to sort of focus.

That's one thing that I see with our adults with autism and just, you know, it's, I think what it is is maybe they don't have the filters that we have of self-censoring and questioning and you know, self-doubt and they're just pure raw expression.

Without that filter that, yeah, that sort of second guessing.

And that's really beautiful and inspiring and I think that their work is on par aesthetically with any of, you know, the great artists.

And so, trying to elevate the acceptance of their artwork in the art world is one of the things that we're trying to do with our mission, because we think that their art is phenomenal and should be considered along with, you know, other traditional professional artists.

[Michael Hemphill] One art lover who needs no convincing of studio's artistry is board president Meghan Wilson.

I have art from the studio all throughout my house and it is vibrant and inspiring.

I first learned about the studio when I moved here and my initial connection was sort of small, but I came to our annual fundraiser Art From The Heart and it's the only fundraising event I've ever been to.

You don't have to listen to anybody talk for very long and it's really just a fun way to connect with our artists and artists in the community.

And the thing that I love about the studio is that it reminds us that each of us makes our own mark.

No one can make a mark on a canvas like you can or like I can.

And no one can do the same thing that our artists do here.

And so, we create this safe space for them to share their viewpoint, their experience of the world with the community.

And I worry sometimes that if the studio didn't exist, we would lose those voices.

And I think that, that is kind of the most significant thing that we give to the community is capturing their voices.

[Michael Hemphill] Another customer on a much bigger scale is board treasurer David Goth, who also works as marketing project manager for O'Neal Steel.

The reason I fell in love with it it's just the joy you get when you come in here.

You just feel the energy of this place and you know, all this art means something different to everybody.

I'd send everybody over here to say, you know, you'll feel what it means when you go in there.

[Michael Hemphill] You get a little emotional.

I do get, did they come across?

Yeah, I do get a little emotional.

It's very, I'm really proud of 'em.

I just think it's fantastic what the studio does for these individuals as well as just, you know, that emotional connection you do through art in a lot of places and which led into our O'Neal Steel and I was putting kind of design with the contractor that we were using and to bring our brand into the company.

Our designer with the contractor said, "We need to commission private artwork."

And I said, "I've got a solution."

And so, we commissioned 54 pieces and came up with a color palette and we gave them images of our product, which is steel, our buildings, there's a magnolia tree that's very important to us.

And they just took off from there.

And then we actually kind of ran an auction outside of that for our employees to pick which one they wanted.

And everybody got involved and donated more to Studio By The Tracks.

By creating this small in-house, 54-person auction that said, "Whatever you donate is where you go in line to pick which piece of art you want."

So, it turned out really good.

Everybody loves them.

I was really nervous a lot of times, 'cause art's very personal and everybody just grasp onto it and come in that office and just love it.

All right, all right.

(gentle music) My name is Sarah Raymer.

I am the studio manager here at Studio By The Tracks.

I grew up with a younger brother who is on the autism spectrum and that informed a lot of my decision making in pursuing a job here.

Growing up we both were very into drawing and art making and it was really a way that we were able to connect with one another.

Especially when, you know, you're younger, you don't always understand why people might be different from you or why certain people just behave differently, but my brother has always really liked to draw.

And myself being the older sister, it felt like I could really connect with him in that way and sort of guide him on something in a way where I knew what I was doing.

I know about art and, you know, I may not have always known about autism, and neither did my brother, but we both know how to draw, we both know about art.

So, that was a very meaningful part of our development together.

You know, the same way that neurotypical people express themselves through art, autistic people do the same thing.

I feel that maybe it's even more important for artists who are nonverbal or maybe struggle with communication to have art as an outlet in a way to express their feelings, because, you know, we all communicate, we all communicate in different ways and art is a way that especially with some of our artists, they can tell us how they're feeling that day or they can unleash some feelings that they haven't otherwise been able to express.

I think I'm gonna call this colorful ribbon Screensaver with Wheel of Fortune Pulses.

Perfect.

I gotta write that down.

Yeah, write that down.

My name is Mychal Hicks.

I am 30 years old and I am from Birmingham, Alabama.

Well, I appreciated art since I was little and I really like to draw.

And then until I started taking an art class in high school.

And then in 2012, that's when I heard about this place, and I've been here for 10 years now.

Well actually, it is been 11 years now, 'cause I started coming in 2012 of August.

I mostly draw a lot of my friends, and what I do is I talk about my relationship with that person.

So, how I would write the bio is I would write it, you know, talking about them first and then I come in talk about my relationship with that person and I tell them how long I known them and stuff.

And that's one of the most popular things with my artwork is that everybody loves the stories that I have done, and these are all real people.

Gotcha, that's cool.

I'm not as natural as Mychal.

Okay, I'm ready.

I'm Tara Stallworth Lee, I'm an artist here in Birmingham and I am an artist collaborator with Michael Hicks.

I think it's a great way to share yourself as an artist, but also, being with all kinds of artists feeds my artistic practice.

Yeah, it's a symbiotic thing.

This is actually a second home for me as an artist.

It's very comfortable, safe, welcoming place to be, and it's fun.

Without Studio By The Tracks I would be very bored at home.

And to be honest about it, I just don't like being at home all day.

[Michael Hemphill] But bored Mychal is not.

In addition to his work as an artist at Studio By The Tracks, Mychal also works every Wednesday as the MC at a popular sports bar called Walk Ons.

Is everybody's having great time so for far tonight?

(patrons cheering) [Michael Hemphill] He may soon have another job as my publicist.

Before I introduce tonight's plan, I wanna let everybody know that we're doing some recording for this documentary called "Buzz".

And here with us tonight is the host and creator of "Buzz" Michael Hemphill who's right here with us tonight.

(patrons cheering) And don't forget ladies and gentlemen you can also watch the episode of "Buzz" on YouTube and your local PBS station, which is here APTV.

But I think it's time for us to get back to the music.

If y'all ready for more music, let me hear you say yeah.

[Patrons] Yeah!

I would say I could be in a museum, and then maybe branch out to also provide more artwork, you know, for the other Walk Ons that the owner has.

And just want, I'm just trying to expand my artwork, and you know, and everybody really enjoys it.

[Michael Hemphill] How much does it cost for you to be here?

It's free.

[Michael Hemphill] Free?

Yes.

So, all of our art sales, 60% goes to the artist, which is almost a little bit over half.

And then the 40% goes to the studio, which covers the supplies and the classes and whatever bills that they have to pay.

[Michael Hemphill] Any idea how much you've made by being part of Studio By The Tracks?

Well, that's a little hard to keep up with, but trust me, I don't even know, 'cause some people be asking me like before an art show, they ask me like, how many pieces do I have in the art show?

I don't even be knowing, and I told 'em, that's not my department to do that.

And people who collect some of my art and sometimes they might have a gallery for my artwork.

And every so often when I start making new artwork, I be trying my best to introduce new people into my artwork.

And everybody seems to really like it.

I just have a lot of fans.

I'm gonna remove this bag.

[Michael Hemphill] Okay.

[Lauren] I'm just gonna put this right here for a minute, Michael.

-Is that okay?

-Yeah, cool.

This sounds good.

[Lauren] Okay, great.

I'm Michael Hall and I'm 43 years old and I live in place to grow Alabama today.

Okay, and I'm Janice Hall, I'm Michael's mother, and I'll just say that I'm a senior citizen.

I won't tell my age, and I'm a retired professor.

And right now I'm a caregiver.

Mike's dad has been ill for a couple of years, or else he would be here, 'cause we would call the Three Musketeers.

We did everything together until he got ill. Michael was born with what was called residual autism and I didn't even know what autism was when he was born.

When they told me he was autistic, I thought they meant he was an artistic, but he was born with autism.

And they called it residual type, because he actually was quite normal when he was born, but then he started showing some signs of not talking, playing with his hands.

-But we had him tested- -Okay.

at five years old and we found out he was autistic.

From there, he went in and outta different schools.

First we tried private schools and we ended up with public schools and one physician told us he would never talk, he'd never function around regular people.

-Michael talks like you and I.

-Okay.

He finished regular high school and he had a job.

For, Michael, how long did you work?

Tell 'em where you work?

I work at Mailshore in Flash Digital in 20 years now.

Then I retired and then I work at home.

He came over here.

We actually, Michael was 25, so we were trying to give him something to do, just some type of entertainment.

We didn't really know that this was his talent.

So, while we were being interviewed, because the lady who was here at the time, the founder, Ila Faye Miller.

Ila Faye made sure that we were all good fits, you know.

And so, we would just interviewing the parents.

She was interviewing the parents and interviewing and while she did that, Michael was drawing.

And so, we went over there and he had this nice-looking painting.

And so she asked him how long had he been working with colors?

And I said, "Well, he's never touched colors."

And that's how we found out that, that was his talent.

Now, as a child, he always did like the little paintings with his pencil.

-[Michael Hall] Okay.

-[Janice] But we just thought that was something to entertain him.

But now he's a folk artist and he has fans.

People really like his style.

Mike, tell him the type of artwork that you like to do.

Yeah, I do lots of drawings and paintings and lots of markers today.

[Janice] What about your super friends?

Yeah, I did super friends right here that I drew Dukes of Hazzard and Star Wars and then I drew Star Trek.

He's just always liked Batman.

-Yeah, I do Batman.

-When he was five years old.

Since I was five years old.

[Janice] What do you like about art when you come here and draw your drawings like today, how does it make you feel?

Yeah, it feels real good today.

And then it's good to be back at the studio.

[Janice] Yeah, we kind of took a pause during the pandemic.

Yeah, the pandemic.

And during that time though, Michael, that we had a system with Studio By The Track where he would come weekly, pick up his supplies, work from home, then come back home and drop 'em off.

I mean back up here and drop them off.

And he liked that a lot.

But now he's agreed to do one day a week.

So, we come one day a week.

Yeah, come one day on Wednesday.

What's so good about Studio By The Tracks, the artists get to show their talent and also it gets them to see that they have a place in society.

And what he does, he gets a percentage back from his drawings and it just really, he beams.

We have this every year we have this annual event called Art From The Heart, and Art From The Heart we have a live auction and they get to bid on paintings.

And Michael, that's his favorite part.

He just loves it.

And this year he wore his, -what did you wear?

-Vest.

I wear a Star Wars shirt today.

The Star Wars.

What did you wear to the Art From The Heart.

I wear a Batman shirt.

Yeah, he had a Batman shirt.

I got a Batman shirt.

Downstage they bid.

And all of the, I call 'em kids, but they're adults.

All of the artists are just, it just really helps them a lot, Okay.

'cause a lot of people don't really know that people with autism, they have the same needs that we have.

It is just that they express it different.

I believe that they're geniuses and they just don't communicate the same way that we do.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) [Michael Hall] I know you're a good mother today.

Yeah, you're a good son too.

Yeah, I'm a good son today.

Yeah.

[Michael Hemphill] I would say probably every day, right?

Yeah, it was every day today.

Yeah, he's a good son, very good.

Since his dad's been ill, we wouldn't have, I wouldn't have been able to make him that, 'cause he just helped so much with his dad.

He and his dad were like clones.

They were about Michael's 6'4, his dad's 6'6.

Okay.

And they used to even walk on the same foot when they would walk they were like twins.

So, when his dad got sick, it was kind of difficult at first for all of us, especially Michael, but Michael stepped up.

I feel like it's an honor for me to be his mother, because at first I used to say, well, why me, why me?

But then I realized that you, when you have a special needs child, you have to be special in order to take care of them.

Though he has really far exceeded everything that everybody said.

I went and found the doctor who told him he would never talk, never walk and I introduced him to Michael.

And Michael said, "Pleased to meet you."

So, it's really filled a void, a big void.

It filled like a void right here.

Yeah, a big void.

It gave us something to do.

It gave us a lot of hope.

And Michael's had an art exhibit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

It's just exposed him to a lot.

So, it really has made his self worth, I think, a lot better.

And it started with Studio By The Tracks.

It is his second home.

Studio By The Tracks it's just been a godsend for Michael.

Yeah, it's good to have you back to the Studio By The Tracks today.

[Michael Hemphill] My friend, Brooke Battle, is a non-profit pro who founded Swell so that fundraising events could use technology and peer-to-peer campaigns to reach more people and raise more money.

She is donating her company's time and talent to help Studio By The Tracks and COSPO or Children Of Slain Police Officers achieve more buzz.

For Studio By The Tracks, she chose the theme Campaign To Create to reflect the multiple ways the studio nurtures creation.

But Swells work for COSPO turned into something far greater than just a fundraising campaign.

As Brooke learned from COSPO founder Ed Harden.

You've had an incredible impact, but unfortunately, a lot of people maybe don't know who you are and about this great work.

And we really wanted to help crack that open and bring in a lot of individual donors to help you do more of what you already do.

And as a part of that work, we always start with a theme to help people instantly connect to a campaign on the Swell platform.

And so, we worked really hard over the summer and are so excited to present you with this campaign theme Beyond the Line Safeguarding the Future of Fallen Officers and Children.

And it was great to, we presented that to your organization about two months ago.

Right, it really resonated with the board, because we had been struggling for a number of years to come up with the name that really let people know what this organization was all about.

And while COSPO sounded like a good name to all of us, 'cause we've been dealing with it since 1985, it did not resonate with the public.

And the line Beyond the Line has great meaning.

You know, every day they come to work and they don't know whether they're going to be able to go home or not.

And COSPO has been able to at least give some comfort to the police officers to know that their children's college education will be taken care of through the efforts of COSPO.

That we are going to not only adopt it as the theme for this fundraising campaign, but we're going to rename the fund to be Beyond the Line.

It's been a life-changing thing for this organization.

And of course, I wish that your organization didn't have to exist.

I wish that, I know that none of your recipients really want to be, as you said in that club, but we hope that this brand and this logo and that the foundation of donors that we're gonna help create ensure at least that the future of the organization is really strong for all of our police officers and their families in the future.

I couldn't say enough good things about Swell and the ability to organize a fundraising campaign is of such tremendous benefit to any not-for-profit organization, and we appreciate it.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)