Meet Jaison Hart

Jaison Hart is an autistic playwright and a shy young man with an enormous heart of compassion, and a brilliant mind. Although he cannot speak with his mouth, he began typing to communicate his thoughts, ideas and feelings when he was 10 years old. He began typing the play when he was 15 one letter at a time.

When and why did Jaison write the play?

At fifteen, he began to write Dreams of An Autistic Playwright in hopes of sharing his message of love through his favorite medium: theater. His dream was to create a fun and uplifting play, through which he could educate the public about autism. His deeper purpose was to bring TRUE friends into his life.

Working on the script with Professor Oliver Gerland at CU

In 2008, Jaison met Professor Oliver Gerland, a theater professor at Colorado University, who guided Jaison to take his play to the next level of proficiency through a year-long process called “a read-through”.

Writing the song lyrics with Mack Bailey

In 2009, Jaison met international folk singer, Mack Bailey, who encouraged Jaison to write the words to a song about his life. Mack put the words to music and the song “Imagine You!” was created. With this, his play became a musical.

Watch Our Words 7 minute video

In 2009, Jaison participated with Watch Our Words, a Colorado based group of his peers, producing a seven-minute video about his experiences with Facilitated Communication.

Screenwriting Award

In that same year, Jaison entered his script in a contest and he was honored with first place for the screenwriting award from Family Academy of Christian Educators.

Staged Reading at Colorado University

In 2010, Professor Oliver Gerland asked Jaison if he would like his play performed as a staged reading at CU with the intention of attracting directors and producers of local theater companies. He invited Jaison to work with the students in his summer 2010 Theater and Disabilities course as playwright consultant for the stage reading. KGNU radio of Boulder Colorado covered the story.

Performance by Colorado ACTS

In 2012, Colorado ACTS decided to produce the play for four nights in Arvada, Colorado with Sharon Luchene as director. Jaison worked with the director to educate the cast and enrich their understanding of what life is like for an individual with autism, who types to communicate.

Special Olympic Medals and NH Leadership

In 2013, Jaison participated in NH Leadership Series and upon completion he obtained 9 college credits from UNH.
In 2014, Jaison joined the Manchester Special Olympics and won two gold medals for downhill Alpine Sitski.

The creation of the DVD

In 2015, footage taken from the Colorado ACTS performance was edited by Cathy Grier and the DVD of the play is now available for purchase.

Best Buddies Ambassador Training

In 2016, Jaison began learning speech writing skills through the Best Buddies International Organization – an awesome organization, which focuses on matching people who have “special needs and unique gifts” with best friends.

Jaison as Playwright and Author

As a professional playwright, Jaison is re-writing Dreams of an Autistic Playwright, and the new version of the play is going to be completed soon. He is also the co-author of More Than You Hoped For -The Unexpected Joy of Raising an Autistic Playwright book with his mother, Sharon Hart. The book is in its final pages of production.