Art is a window to the possibilities and beauty of disability. —Leisa A. Hammett

Grace Walker Goad was diagnosed with moderately severe autism with intellectual disabilities and severe speech/language disorder at just under age three, in 1997, and has been painting since she was four. Because autism subtly affects the muscle tone of portions of her grasp, her work is largely abstract. Yet, her advanced use of color and composition has been lauded and featured on the 2007 autism episode of ABC’s “The View;” on Al Jeezera America, seen on Fox Business; on the cover of The American Journal of Psychiatry, among other magazine covers; the cover of the book, Making Sense of Autism, and in The Art of Autism: 2012 Edition, as well as numerous local and national newspapers, magazines, and other television and online media, including The New York Times. Her work is also in the Tennessee Arts Commission’s permanent artists’ collection managed at the Tennessee State Museum.

Photo: Jerry Atnip

She has exhibited in Washington, D.C., New York City’s Soho District, Seattle, Wash., Greensboro, N.C., the Massachusetts’ Berkshires, Las Vegas, Nev., and Ventura, Calif. She is represented by Spring Hollow Gallery and Studio and ArtLifting. In Nashville, her originals, Notecards, prints, and ArtTile series can be found at Shimai Gallery of Contemporary Craft on the grounds of The Loveless Café; The ArtAble Collection of Village Green Hills; and have also been featured in The Arts Company’s holiday line; at the former Gallery One; and on Nashville’s gallery row, downtown on 5^th Avenue of the Arts, at the Tennessee Art League; at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, and also on the downtown Franklin Art Scene. Goad’s originals are in the private collections of a number of individuals including NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, in various departments of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Now a young adult, she lives in Nashville with her mother, author, speaker, and ARTism agent and advocate Leisa A. Hammett. She is also the daughter of a loving and supportive father, hospital information systems executive Jeff Goad.