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It's like he's going to paint a green leaf red, and you can't say it's wrong, because in his mind he feels that the leaf is hot, so he uses painting to express and communicate, don't think of it as just painting, he's using this to try to talk to you.
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From being dropped out of school to becoming a small teacher in an art institution, autistic Je Lin started a second life in just a few years.
After graduating from junior high school, he studied at the Shantou Arts and Crafts School for a year. Because it was sometimes too late to write down all the contents of the board book in the culture class, he went straight to the podium to take the teacher's textbook to see, and some teachers felt that it caused trouble, and he was forced to withdraw from school. At first, his mother coaxed him, saying that the school had not yet opened, and in October, he said that the students had gone outside to sketch, and it was inconvenient for you to go out, and so on.
But Jie Lin knew in his heart that he knew that his mother was looking for a new school for him everywhere, and every time the other party said to take a look at it first, after a few days, he could feel the same loss when he should have replied but could not wait for a reply. Once, when the mother and son walked to the door of a middle school, just after school, they saw the students carrying school bags coming out in groups, Jie Lin could not bear it any longer, and cried desperately on the spot, and his mother was helpless, so she had to run to other places with him to hide temporarily.
Under the haze of hopeless emotions, his father, who was already diabetic, deteriorated and needed to be transferred to Guangzhou for hospitalization, and the family moved from Shantou to Guangzhou. Under the introduction of enthusiastic people around them, Guangzhou Television, CCTV and other media have successively reported the situation of Jie Lin's family, and the donations of strangers have eased the pressure of many medical expenses, and Jie Lin's painting talent has also received more attention.
In 2015, Miao Shiming, the founder of WABC (Barrier-free Art) came to Guangzhou to search for China's Van Gogh across the country, learned about Jie Lin's growth story and saw his past paintings, Miao Shiming determined that this was the person he was looking for. After that, Jie Lin not only expressed his difficult to open his mouth through painting, dispelled his inner sorrows, but also inspired many children who were as autistic as him and loved to paint in a friendly atmosphere, and to this day, his paintings have influenced and infected millions of ordinary people, so that they can still find beauty and dreams in the ordinary life.
▲ Children in painting (Photo/"Say Thank You in Five Years" video)
The comfort of the paintbrush
When he was 8 years old, Jie Lin followed his mother to Beijing Xingxingyu (the first institution in China dedicated to training parents of autistic children) to participate in the study, parents took notes offstage, he also took a small book to write and draw, the difference is that others are pure text, but he drew the whole scene, next to the text description, even the teacher on the podium to teach children with fruits and other molds are clearly drawn.
After returning to Shantou, her mother Wang Qiaoru quit her job teaching history in high school to concentrate on accompanying, caring for and educating this child who had not spoken a word until the age of seven or eight, was more active, and loved to throw things out of the window. At the end of the 90s, almost no one knew what "autism" was, and in a confused gaze, some malicious voices counted that she would only be born and would not teach, doting on children like this, and even viciously attacking her for doing evil things in her previous life, and was retribued to give birth to such a son in this life.
In the unbearable insults, Wang Qiaoru thought that he could not fall, and only by ensuring his physical and mental health could he better accompany his children. For these unusual symptoms, Wang Qiaoru never hid, her voice was soft and sweet, and she tirelessly explained the child's situation to others, asking them to tolerate and try her best to dispel their strange eyes. With a proud smile, she "publicized" that there are many shining points that ordinary people do not have on the child, although he can't speak but he can write, and he loves to draw, as long as he picks up a pen and paper, he can draw quietly for hours.
From the age of one and a half years old, when he could hold a pen in his small hand, painting became most of Jie Lin's life. Many summer nights, accompanied by the distant sea breeze, Wang Qiaoru, who was still a teacher, would come back with some chalk, lead him to the roof, and squat on the cement floor to enjoy it. At that time, she found that Jie Lin was very sensitive to numbers, and from then on she consciously taught him to draw numbers, gradually extending to the algorithm of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In the outdoor time, whether it is playing seesaw or going up and down the stairs, Wang Qiaoru will seize every opportunity to count in the child's ear all the time "1234" to strengthen language stimulation, so that Jie Lin is very handy in mathematics during primary school, and has also been selected as a representative to participate in the district's math competition.
Because of this open-mindedness and open-mindedness, she gradually became the object of enlightenment sought by the people around her. She often said to some young parents who were discouraged by disciplining their children, "We must love our children well, your behavior is a demonstration, if you have been looking down on him and cursing him, the people around you will be the same as you; but if you have been praising your child, loving him, and discovering his advantages, the child will have confidence and will progress beautifully, and the people around you will love him and even worship him."
When she was young, she called Jie Lin "handsome brother", and her classmates heard it and also called handsome brother. During elementary school, Jie Lin showed a memory that was different from ordinary people, casually saying a year, month and day, he could tell you what day of the week it was, how much the lunar calendar was and even what the weather was; saying a mobile phone number, he could remember it without dialing, so the classmates were very kind to him with surprised eyes, and often told him the mobile phone numbers of his parents and fathers.
Once he followed his mother to visit the principal of the elementary school, and when he returned, he drew the matter of going to the principal's house, not only the principal's house, but even some small houses next to it that were not blind. When others saw that he had this talent, they suggested that Wang Qiaoru quickly find a painting teacher to tutor him, but Wang Qiaoru thought that he was not eager to train him to become a painter or calligrapher, he wanted to paint backwards, obliquely, how to paint. If you rush to hire a teacher who does not understand the child's situation, you may be embarrassed and angry in the face of his silent reaction, and the forced guidance may even wear away his sensitive perception of the outside world. Therefore, she responded to her colleague with a smile with the confidence of not knowing the way, "Jie Lin is waiting for a teacher who understands him to appear."
The heat of the icy world
After graduating from CAMI, Miao Shiming came into contact with autistics, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome patients by curating an exhibition "Everyone is an Artist", and was deeply touched by their world, so in 2009 he founded WABC, a public welfare organization that helps special people paint.
A few years later, he came to Jielin and assured Jielin's mother that he would guide and cultivate on the basis of fully respecting the child's nature. Every month, the institution will give Jie Lin a basic living security subsidy, and the painting materials and painting tools required for weekday painting will also be provided free of charge by the institution. Before that, because he could not afford to buy regular paints and paper, Jie lin's painting tools came from a variety of sources, sometimes expired wall calendars sent by neighbors, sometimes advertising paper, and sometimes sponsored by the Youth Cultural Palace or art training institutions.
The stable supply of materials is only one aspect, wabc is more important to create a safe and comfortable atmosphere for this group of children. After becoming a contracted student of the institution, Over the years, Wang Qiaoru has obviously felt the changes in JieLin's body. "He can paint like this, it's really a kind of healing, so his mood is more stable than before, he laughs and giggles all day, he is very happy, he is in a good mood, and he will help me do a lot of housework at home."
When she could afford it, she would occasionally find some cheap tours to take her son outside to get in touch with nature. Now when she goes out, Jie Lin is always very well-behaved and very happy, which makes her mother have a lot less worries. In the face of strangers in the group, Wang Qiaoru will also take the opportunity to introduce their son's situation to them, so that more people can understand that there are actually many such children in society, and after saying that, they will show them Jie Lin's paintings. Some people listened to it and said that they had understood it before, and some people said that they had never been in contact with it, but now that they understand it, they will be very cooperative to say that this child is really not simple.
On days outside of the trip, Jie Lin either paints at home or takes a bus for more than an hour three times a week to the institution to paint. Once the weather was particularly good, and in the car to the agency, he looked out the window and told his mother that he wanted to paint a winter sea today. Then he painted a large sun rising from the sea, warm yellow beams of light occupying half of the sky, the waves on the sea, and several small boats on the tip of the waves. He pointed to the people on the boat who were smaller than the waves and said that it was morning and they were going out to sea to catch fish. Wang Qiaoru was very touched to hear this, she looked at these thin but not afraid of the wind and waves figures, standing at the bow of the ship to the front full of longing, in the distance is the sun that has risen halfway, and will soon usher in a greater light - just looking at the painting herself seems to have been healed.
▲ Jie Lin's work "The Sea in Winter" (Photo/ "Say Thank You in Five Years" video)
One day at the end of August 2017, also on the way to the institution, Wang Qiaoru opened the circle of friends as usual, and was suddenly shocked by the brush screen in front of him. Many people bought Jie Lin's paintings through the public welfare activities of the "Children's Gallery", and among the 36 paintings that participated in that public welfare activity, Jie Lin personally provided three: "The Sea", which is bright purple and white, beats wildly like stars, is the most popular, Miao Shiming feels the yearning for freedom from it, he prints this painting on his business card, the other two are "Spring Night" and "Winter Implications", and the three paintings have received 5.6 million hits.
The name of the painting is usually after Wang Qiaoru has seen it, such as "The Implication of Winter", she saw Jie Lin in a snow-covered mountain forest very strangely decorated with some red, "so my interpretation of his painting is that in winter we will feel very depressed, very cold, but in the cold world, there is still the power of life beating." 」
AI dreams
The screen brushing public welfare five years ago is still fresh in the memory of the participants, especially the initiators. Huang Xuan, one of the main creative members of the "Children's Gallery", still remembers that the online fundraising campaign launched on Tencent's public welfare platform at that time raised a target amount of 15 million yuan in only six hours, and colleagues had no specific expectations for this, only that this not small amount would take one or two months to raise.
The departure of Tencent's "Children's Gallery" in that year was more of a sign of the beginning of Tencent's beautiful public welfare for insiders. According to Huang Xuan's recollection, since that time, everyone hopes to get rid of the one-sided impression of "bitter and poor" public welfare activities, and at the same time do public welfare, they can also convey beauty, thus launching the public welfare activities of "Children's Gallery".
Huang Xuan from the age of four or five to learn Chinese painting, and later successively learn calligraphy, brush painting, oil painting, the university also studied in the art college, when volunteering, the teachers of the institution have no doubt about her painting level, the prior training is more in the emphasis on the basic principles of getting along with children, such as the first do not rush to have physical contact with him, the second do not forcibly teach him what to draw, but to patiently guide, let him diverge his own observations. "It's like he's going to paint a green leaf red, and you can't say it's wrong, because in his heart he feels that the leaf is hot, so he uses painting to express and communicate, don't think of it as just painting, he's using this to talk to you." 」
After a few times together, Huang Xuan gradually got to know the children, they often need two hours to slowly build up feelings, and it is even possible that at the last moment he will look at you, laugh with you, or stand next to you when taking pictures, she concluded, "This is what makes them very different from ordinary children, they need time, they also need a safe distance."
In April 2021, Tencent incorporated sustainable social value innovation into its corporate strategy and established SSV (Sustainable Social Value Division). When conceiving of sustainable public welfare, Huang Xuan proposed to once again join hands with the group of "little friends" of that year, so that those who have helped them can see their growth and change. In the past five years, Tencent Public Welfare has maintained long-term cooperation and communication with WABC. Huang Xuan has also been paying attention to WABC, since the 15 million donations reached the institution, seeing that they have opened branches in more than a dozen cities, and let more than 13,000 children like Jie Lin feel the work of art healing, she really feels that a donation of public welfare may only take a few seconds, but the impact of subsequent collection is continuous and unexpected, compared to one-time donations, sustainable attention and development are more important for public welfare.
Since the opening of the "Children's Gallery" in 2017, which allows users to easily participate in the "fingertip public welfare", Tencent Public Welfare has launched the concept of "behavioral public welfare" such as "donating steps", that is, doing public welfare is no longer limited to donating money, a smiling photo, a period of reading, and the number of steps walked can be donated. As a creative person, Huang Xuan thought about how wonderful it would be if a person could even donate the dreams he had, so he combined the paintings of autistic children with donated dreams and launched the "Painting Dreams" digital public welfare project.
In the "Paint Dreams" mini program launched on January 23, 2022, users can generate a picture by entering a dream. After learning a large number of paintings by children at THE WABC institution, the AI will use their brushstrokes and colors to draw your own dreams. According to Huang Xuan, after the painting is generated, the platform will also match a related public welfare project according to your dream. Assuming the input is a trip to next year, the AI might generate a map of the seashore, and the platform will connect to the marine conservation project. Users can choose to donate 1 yuan to this public welfare project while upgrading their dream paintings to an NFT digital collection. It is also a matter of spending a dollar, "one of your dreams can help another similar dream, we call it a dream to help a dream."
▲ Xiao Wei, the child of the stars, was interviewed by the media
Five years on, the participants in the event are moving forward. Children have grown up, from "little friends" to "little teachers" of AI, from recipients to dreamers. In Huang Xuan's view, the transformation of the characters is the most moving part of the story. After five years, combined with the "little friend" painting to launch the "painting dream", it is thinking about how to use science and technology to do public welfare, to practice the beautiful vision of science and technology for good, but also through the AI learning algorithm, the simple love in the children's painting gene continues, so that this love can help other public welfare projects through the transformation of science and technology, and help realize more dreams.
The purpose of public welfare is not only to speak out
In this year's "Painting Dreams" public welfare activity, the external technical cooperation for Tencent is the crypto artist Song Ting, who graduated from Tsinghua's humanities experimental class, and because of her outstanding performance in the introduction to linguistics, which requires a lot of Java programming, she laid the foundation for the natural language processing model and became a liberal arts student who often participates in hackathon programming competitions.
Since 2018, she has been experimenting with AI for artistic creation, and in this public welfare project, she has applied the style transfer model of deep learning and the algorithm against generating neural networks. In this way, the amount of engineering can be understood as like a baton, divided into several segments, constantly running data. The reason why it takes so much effort is that she and the members of Tencent's SSV department insist that if only a sentence is directly corresponding to match a children's ready-made painting, things will become much simpler, but it also loses a touch of poetry and ingenuity, and more importantly, it is impossible to make the public and children have a closer and co-creation connection.
In addition to realizing AI painting, Song Ting also uses blockchain technology, allowing users to directly save pictures, or choose to generate NFTs for works and put them on Tencent Zhixin Chain. In Song Ting's view, the core of the blockchain is also related to the connection between people. A few years ago, she did a global public welfare exhibition of vulnerable children called "hear", and with the assistance of local NGOs, selected paintings of Syrian refugee children, children from poor areas of Bhutan, orphans in AIDS villages and children with autism to Be transported to Beijing for exhibition.
When curating, she placed one of her favorite paintings of a Syrian girl in the center, featuring an owl with a bright color scheme. Song Ting later learned that the girl's family smuggled from Syria to Greece during the war, in the process of the boat overturned, the girl's mother unfortunately died, she expressed her heart in this painting, hoping that her mother also had an owl at the door of heaven, because the owl symbolizes good luck in Syrian culture.
After seeing many paintings of vulnerable children, Song Ting feels that children's hearts are very pure, and they often behave braver than many adults in the face of some propositions of life suffering. She also traveled to Cambodia as an undergraduate to educate local girls who are struggling to make ends meet and provide sexual services, and experienced that in addition to the solidified urban life, there are many children in the wider world who are experiencing deep and real suffering.
During the epidemic, although physical space is limited, as long as you maintain empathy, you will not be completely isolated from the world. In Song Ting's view, the charm of public welfare is not only to find more people who can solve problems, but also to let such problems be known by more people, "so that the possibility of it getting better will increase."
After the success of the "Children's Gallery" activity five years ago, parents of autistic children often came to thank Huang Xuan, because of these positive and beautiful publicity, they finally had dignity in front of relatives and friends. After about half a year, she would occasionally catch a glimpse of the mobile phone screensaver of strangers around her at bus stops and subway stations, which was exactly a picture of the event.
Whenever these moments come, she will feel a warm sense of accomplishment from the bottom of her heart. After that, every time I talked about it with people I knew, many people's first reaction would be to say, "They seem to be particularly good at painting." A short verbal affirmation has made Huang Xuan feel very difficult, she knows how many people pay and insist on eliminating discrimination and changing the common perception of the public.
But apparently, she and her colleagues on the team weren't satisfied with that. "The purpose of the public good should not only be to make them speak and let the public hear, it should be a sustainable concern." We have a bigger vision to use technology empowerment to expand richer public welfare scenarios with new technology public welfare, so that vulnerable groups can also have the opportunity to help more people. ”
In order to train AI, the members of the team need to conduct frequent tests before the activity goes online, and Huang Xuan's input dream is more abstract, "I hope to be able to do what I want to do smoothly next year", which generates many different pictures. One of her favorite paintings is exactly the result of AI learning JieLin's painting of a fisherman going to sea, the main body of the picture is still blue and white waves, the huge rising sun is gone, turning into a petal-like yellow in the lower right corner, she selected this painting as the protagonist of the event promotion film "Say Thank You with Five Years", and the resulting graphic language reads: A stone can also set off waves in the sea.
▲ "Five Years to Say Thank You"
To thank you all for your support
Jie Lin, the "little teacher" of the "Painting Dreams" AI
Specially created the red envelope cover of the Year of the Tiger series
Don't rush to paddle away, there are surprises!
The first digital image on the central axis of Beijing
"Beijing Swift" is coming with Q Tiger!
Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage in conjunction with Tencent
Launched the Chinese New Year limited "Beijing Central Axis" red envelope cover
The one-of-a-kind Beijing Swift
Move with the Q Tiger
Make an interesting contrast
It means the lucky one who grabbed the cover of this red packet
The new year is like a tiger!