Chongqing- As the Children's Day approaches,  an art auction of paintings was held in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality on May 29 and eight of those paintings were made by children with autism.

At the Little Sun Rehabilitation and Nursing Center for Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Nan'an District, the starting price of 12 paintings was 30 yuan, and the total revenue was over 30,000 yuan.

Autistic children drew dreams of cats

When she was in kindergarten, Yuanyuan did not talk to other children, and she did not like to play games either. She was always immersed in her own world. Yuanyuan is autistic.

After coming to the Little Sun Special Education Center, she worked hard with the teacher to learn various skills, even though it took more energy and time than other children.

In May this year, teachers from Shansheng Art came to the special education center to teach children how to draw engraving. It is a kind of painting poking with a needle on the foam and printing with ink.

The series of paintings, the Fun of Cats, was inspired by a public art exhibition with the theme of Cats in the Forbidden City, which was held recently at the Memorial Hall for the Cultural Relics from the Forbidden City in Nanbin Road. In order to allow autistic children to experience the joy of art, teachers referred to the art exhibition in their special class.

With the teacher's assistance, Yuanyuan smiled sweetly on the day she framed the painting. She told her mother that she felt very relaxed and happy when painting.

My Cat Mother, created by Yuanyuan and two other children was just one of a dozen paintings (including four donated by young volunteers) put up for public auction. It was the idea of the president of the special education center, Jiang Lu, whose child is autistic. She knows how important the affirmation of others is to this group of special children.

Paintings for public auction

Jiang Lu set the starting price for the paintings at 30 yuan because she thought that a painting may be sold for tens of yuan or hundreds of yuan at most.

The auction site was in the school conference room. It was originally scheduled for dozens of people, but more than 100 people came. The meeting room was almost full. In the crowd were parents of students and entrepreneurs who have long been concerned about children with autism and volunteers.

Entrepreneurs bid on each painting, yet since too many people were bidding for each painting, the auctioneer decided to let the bidder make a quoted price. As a result, one painting suddenly leaped from 30 yuan to 800 yuan.

Yi Ying, the bidder for My Cat Mother won it with a bid of 5,883 yuan. She is the mother of a 16-year-old teenager. "When I saw the child's painting for the first time, I felt really soothed. I took these two paintings and just followed my heart," said Yi Ying. Another painting she took was called Little Cute Kittens. "I really like these paintings!"

In the end, the total revenue of the 12 paintings was 30,000 yuan, far exceeding Jiang Lu's expectations. The president's original wish was to let those special children believe in themselves through the auction. However, it's evident that so many people in the public care for the autistic group. All donations are used to purchase rehabilitation aids for children. Alongside the art auction, volunteer children sold their toys at the flea market, and the proceeds were donated to the special education center.