Autism gets the Hollywood treatment, and Sylvia van Meerten has a fresh take on helping Ashevilleans deal with the disorder.

by Jess McCuan . photo by Matt Rose

In 1988, the movie Rain Man gave many Americans their first close-up view of autism. Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for his portrayal of Raymond Babbitt, a long lost brother to Tom Cruise’s character, a brash, rude L.A. car salesman. Twenty years later, Claire Danes has given us a new view of the disorder, with HBO’s release this summer of a movie about Temple Grandin, an autistic scientist who was one of TIME’s most influential people of 2010. The movie, which won five Emmys, tells Grandin’s story of battling autism while charting a career studying animal behavior.

In Asheville, 30-year-old Sylvia van Meerten is also trying to give people a new view of the disorder. On November 6, her year-old business, Empower Autism, will hold its first glitzy fundraiser atop Asheville’s Hotel Indigo. Van Meerten, who’s working on a master’s degree in psychology with a specialty in autism, got the go-ahead three years ago from a Philadelphia group, Dragonfly Forest, to start up a free summer camp for autistic kids there. Then, last spring, van Meerten started organizing outings for autistic people in Asheville through a Dragonfly program, The Spectrum.

People with autism often feel isolated, but they shouldn’t, van Meerten says. Their activities may be structured slightly differently than for the rest of us (the “neurotypical”), with a bit more explanation of appropriate social behavior, for example, or more details in the itinerary. But they don’t need to be drastically different. “They don’t need to play autism baseball, or autism guitar,” van Meerten says. She believes autistic children in particular should spend less time fretting about what they can’t do and more time enjoying themselves with others—going for a swim at the Y, for example, or getting together for a cooking club.

People in The Spectrum’s groups range widely in age. Last spring, an eight-year-old might have been in the same group as an adult. But participation has doubled since last year, and van Meerten hopes that, as her program expands, she can offer activities for more specific age groups. She’d also like to give more scholarships for outings, which cost $85 for six weeks. In the meantime, her November fundraiser and local speaking engagements are an effort to battle misinformation. “Autism is represented so oddly in the media, with kids having meltdowns or tantrums,” she says. “But it isn’t the only side. Every time there’s more media attention on positive events, it helps everyone realize the depth and breadth of the spectrum.”

For more on Dragonfly Forest’s summer camps, check out www.dragonflyforest.org . For more on Sylvia van Meerten’s partnership with Dragonfly, check out www.autismsocialgroups.org. To attend Cheers for Charity on November 6, which benefits the Asheville-area Dragonfly program, call 828-479-5323.