Aces for Autism

Video features the outdoor Aquatix splash Landscape Structures at Aces For Autism in Winterville North Carolina.

[video: fade into a splash pad with playing children.]

Speaker 1: So, our journey started with our son Samuel. Our son Samuel was diagnosed around 16, 18 months old with autism.

[video: boy plays in water ground sprayers on splash pad. Woman stands in front of wall with evenly spaced t-shirts hung. White text appears on screen “Bobbie Robinson, Co Founder & Director of Community Outreach, Aces for Autism, Greenville North Carolina”.

Bobbie: So, when we started thinking about ACEs for Autism and this building that we were going to be building, we really thought about all the places that families had trouble within the community.

[video: sidewalk lined with plants leads to the ACEs for Autism building. Larger lettering on the wall reads Come to Wade’s Corner, Winterville NC.

Bobbie: We have, you know, our lab street with the hair salon and grocery store and mockup apartment, but then also we were thinking about out in the community even more.

[video: focused look of text on glass door of mockup hair salon. Panning view of a mockup grocery store. Walking in view of a mockup doctors office. Flyover view of a large playground and splash pad.]

Bobbie: There are places like parks and splash pad areas and pools and things like that, that families really struggle. A lot of families that we serve and even Kyle and I personally, we would avoid those spaces because of meltdowns that would happen.

[video: adults watch as children play on the splash pad. A boy holds his hand under some running water. Focused view of the top of a turtle shape water sprayer. A boy kneels next to a ladybug water sprayer, playing in the water pretending to clean it. Boy covers his head as he walks under falling water from a palm tree like sculpture.]

Bobbie: And so, when we were working with the team. We really wanted a comfortable space that they could learn, and they could grow, and you could see the effects in the families.

[video: camera focuses on boy as the water splashes down on his head. A boy holds his hand over a stream of water spraying from the ground. He pushes his hand all the way down to spray nozzle on the ground. A woman catches water in her hand and throws it at a boy that is playing in a ring of ground sprayers. A boy holds his hand in a circle shape as a ground sprayer sprays through. Scene goes back to Bobbie standing in front of the t-shirt wall as she speaks to the camera.]

Bobbie: We felt like God was laying on our hearts to start a center so that all the families could get those resources and not just families that were diagnosed today. It’s families for years to come. It is definitely a ripple effect and overwhelming to really think about the amount of families that long after Kyle and I are gone, long after Samuel is, you know, is gone, this place here at ACEs for Autism is going to be serving families for years to come.

[video: a woman puts her foot over a ground sprayer as a boy holds onto her wrist. Two women collect water in their hands and splash it on a little boy. He winces in excitement. A boy jumps and leans like dancing on a ground sprayer. A boy looks up at the falling water, waving his arms and jumping in excitement. A boy holds his hands in a praying shape as he pushes them into multiple streaks of water. A boy kneels in the center of a ring of ground sprayers. He slaps the ground splashing more water around. Scene fades to a full elevated view of the outdoor playground and splash pad next to the ACEs for Autism building. Screen jumps to white a black line draws itself in the center of the screen. Carolina Parks & Play logo slides out from the black line to the right of the screen. The Aquatix logo slides out to the left of the black line as the black line turns into a plus sign. Screen fades to black and the video ends.]