EU Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE) is providing educational resources to support a series of workshops in Portugal called Simbiontes Austim. The workshops are designed to inspire children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), while also raising funds for biomedical research in Portugal.
Simbiontes Austim is organised by Associação Viver a Ciência (VAC), working in partnership with the Centro de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Infantil (CADin). The project began in October 2011 and it will continue to run every two weeks until March 2012.
The Simbiontes Autism project is providing CADin with several pedagogical scientific workshops, including some astronomy workshops created by EU-UNAWE. Art will be used in these workshops to inspire the scientific curiosity of the children.
All of the original artwork produced by the children will be sold at a special event to finance an award for scientific research into child neurodevelopment in Portugal.