Welcoming World Autism Month, ULD UMN Together with PORTADIN Hosts Art for Autism Workshop

Group photo of the ULD UMN team, PORTADIN, and participants. (Doc. UMN)

Tangerang, (29/04/2026) – In celebration of World Autism Month, UMN’s Disability Service Unit (ULD) held the “Art for Autism: Raising Awareness and Understanding through Creativity” event. This activity is part of UMN’s commitment to providing inclusive education and encouraging sustainable impact for the community.

Art for Autism is an event designed to raise public awareness and understanding of the potential of individuals with autism through art therapy. In its implementation, UMN also collaborated with PORTADIN (the Indonesian Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities).

The event began with the launch of UMN’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for handling and accommodating the academic needs of students with disabilities and UMN’s academic community, which will later collaborate to create an inclusive and strategic learning environment. Continuing the event, Dr. Anne Nurfarina, as Head of ULD UMN, also delivered a presentation for the parents.

“I am personally quite concerned with art therapy, especially for children with disabilities. For me, they are not just drawing; more than that, art therapy can serve as a stimulus for the children themselves and can help them find a specific focus. Through art therapy, we can also see what the children like, their hobbies, and how they learn,” she explained.

For Anne, art therapy is an art form that is very close to human daily life and can be used to observe behavior and identify what is happening with the child. These aspects include emotions, consistency, and children’s abilities. Anne also emphasized the importance of understanding children’s interests, which cannot be determined by lineage.

Art therapy workshop with ULD UMN and PORTADIN. (Doc. UMN)

“I am delighted to be able to participate in the workshop organized by ULD UMN. For me, this training is important for increasing the knowledge and understanding of parents of children with disabilities. I hope these programs can be held again and involve even more parents and children,” Tri Andayani, Chairperson of PORTADIN West Java Regional Board, said.

Tri herself sees this program as a positive and impactful business opportunity for the wider community. In the future, Tri will share the knowledge she has gained more broadly with other parents. Tri hopes that this activity can be held regularly and receive mentoring from UMN, which has expertise in this field.

“For me, this is a valuable experience to learn and participate directly; this is a new experience for me. Through this activity, I learned many new things, one of which is that art is important and can serve as a medium for discovering children’s creativity and talents. Additionally, I also learned how to create designs on Canva,” Yuan Savitri, one of the parents involved in the art therapy workshop, said

Yuan expressed that she gained many benefits from this workshop. She hopes the workshop can be held regularly and focus not only on autism but also on other types of disabilities. Moving forward, she hopes that there will be even more activities from ULD UMN that can involve parents.

By Rachel Tiffany | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

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