Imbuing sensitive and creative artwork for children with autism
Hillary Simon
June 9, 2023
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Walking into healthcare settings can be intimidating and nerve-racking for anyone, but for children with autism and their families—it can be especially overwhelming and possibly traumatic.
Shaping patient experiences for this population is both especially challenging and impactful. Every nuance of designed space from the inside/out matters: the lighting, wall color, furniture, patient rooms, graphics. It’s these small details that may seem like just nice touches to some that can be a game changer to someone with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The Thompson Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center at CHOC is one of only a handful of clinics across the country dedicated solely to diagnosing, managing, and treating ASD. Upon acquiring a vacant office building in 2018 to be the home of their new center, CHOC knew the interior design was crucial and turned to CannonDesign for guidance. Don Lawrence and Hilary Thomas led one of our project teams to make this space a breakthrough model of care for children with ASD from the moment they walked inside.
New situations are incredibly tough for children with autism. Every tiny detail from the noise control, the colors, textures, patterns and spatial qualities can lead an ASD child and their family out the door in distress. That’s why Hilary, Don, and their team used evidence-based design to develop every detail, while working with the CHOC team and came up with a design that would provide comfort and hope for ASD families.
Testimonials
Interior Graphic Elements to Help Children with ASD
Muted Color Palette: Using color as a wayfinding tool has proven to be useful for children with autism, but choosing the right colors and tones is critical. Hilary shared that intentionally infusing simple colors helps with wayfinding and creates a calm ambience to reduce stimulation.
Glare & Wayfinding: Our design team carefully chose material and lighting with low reflectivity that helped reduce any glare, which is noted in research to cause distraction. This methods creates a sense of calm and also help separate areas of the clinic to assist with wayfinding.
Demonstration Graphics: When walking down the building’s corridors, outside each patient activity room is an engaging graphic that demonstrates what this room is used for. For example, the therapy rooms show a child holding a ball and interacting with a staff member. It’s a way for the child to visually understand what they will be doing and avoid surprises.
Peaceful artwork: When choosing art, the design team highlighted peaceful animal and childhood play elements— emotionally-sensitive art that tells a beautiful story. Artwork that shows lions and bears, for example, can be too scary or threatening.
Avoid Isolation & Distortion: Artwork that shows a fish or a solo animal can create a sense of isolation. Busy artwork can feel overwhelming and too distorted. That’s why the team focused on balancing nature using artwork that embodies togetherness, socialization, and interaction.
"Our design team, which included CHOC representatives and an art consultant, settled on a few themes for each floor: ocean marine life, bubbles, beach-side activities, and astronomy. The marine life has a watercolor feel to soften the art, the bubbles are used in a hide and seek theme with hidden elements, and empty rectangular spaces are on the wall to allow personalization with patient artwork. Those are just a few artwork details that spark creativity and joy," explained Hilary Thomas.
