True to its calling of providing an exhibition space for the entire community, the Arts Council's latest features Cunningham and five other artists who are showcasing their work for the first time. They are participants in a pilot project of the Division of Autism Spectrum Services of the state's Department of Developmental Services.

Autism spectrum disorder means that most of the young people exhibiting have some deficits in communication or in processing information. According to Tacie Lowe (pictured below), who works with them, a silver lining of the deficit is often that there is extraordinary ability in another area. Art for example.

This digital work by Cunningham, by way of example, is a kind of distillation of the word "argh," he said to assembled friends, family, and supporters at Thursday night's opening. That was the only word he used to read in comic books. When he started doing his own digital work, "argh" in all its silly, yet meaningful, frustrated fury informed his work.

It's called "Self Defense" and shows, he said, a small dope firing a ray gun. It is signed by Umilphus. Apparently each of the nine works Cunningham has contributed with engaging titles such as "Repent, Sinner," "Oh Snow," "Nemitz Abridged," "Carpentry Addiction," and "Avast, Ye Swabs" has a different pseudonym.

In an amusing disquisition on his work, Cunningham said he was exploring the proposition: How can dopes not feel pain?

What makes this project a pilot is not that these artists, many of whom have been practicing all their lives, are exhibiting and selling their work. Rather it is that the exhibition is being co-sponsored by the state Department of Development Services as a contribution to the artists' growth toward independent living.

According to Tacie Lowe (pictured here on the right with cross stitch artist Ethel Bonie), until recently Connecticut was one of the few states whose regulations did not provide special services (apart from schooling) for people with Asperger's Syndrome and other conditions on the autism spectrum, as it's now called, if the person had an I.Q. over 70.

Many of these artists are extraordinarily intelligent, said Lowe, who is providing services out of Benhaven, a non-profit headquartered in North Haven. The pilot program, which has 28 people, but only six artists, is to give them recognition for their work, help them integrate into the community in such simple ways as getting comfortable taking public transportation, and eventually helping get them appropriate employment.

And it's working. Ethel Bonie, who has for years been making not only cross-stitch portraits like this rose in a vase but also the frame for it, is going to be starting work in a frame shop in Westville in the next few weeks.

The other artists in the exhibition are Jeff Tell, Kimberly Tucker (whose piece "Joe and Chickens" is pictured below), Richard Bildstein, and Vance May (whose piece "Full Spectrum" is pictured here). Full Spectrum is located at the Arts Council's second floor gallery at 70 Audubon Street, and it runs through March 21.

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