-  Fourteen students with ASD trained at Design School. Autistar.com launched to market products designed based
   on their artwork.
-  Stationeries, furniture and various daily use items designed with contributions from artists with ASD to kick start
    their career
-  The First Artists with ASD Competition and ‘With Lines, Colors and Love’ exhibition to be held until Dec. 4

SK Planet and Ewha Womans University have collaborated on a design school program for people with ASD to support them
to start their careers and engage more actively with the society.

Since May, SK Planet has sponsored the Design School, which is an ESTAR (Ewha Special Talents & Rehabilitation) Project run
by Ewha Womans University under the leadership of Professor Lee So-hyun of the Department of Special Education.

ESTAR Project is a joint academia-industry initiative and the first effort of its kind in Korea which seeks to support individuals
with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) to become socially independent. SK Planet and Ewha are collaborating to discover the
special talents that people with ASD have and showcasing them to the broader society so that these individuals too can
engage more actively in social and economic activities.

A total of 14 designers with ASD have completed their training at the Design School. The design company Autistar
(www.autistar.co.kr) was founded to support their development and rehabilitation by producing and marketing products
that are designed based on their artwork, and generating profit. Autistar plans to pave the way for students with ASD to be
economically active by developing marketable products using their design, promoting them online and establishing a
reliable distribution channel.

The works of these artists, the 50 selected submissions to the Designers with ASD Competition held in August, and the
goods produced with their work as motifs are showcased until November 4 at the ‘With Lines, Colors and Love’ exhibition
at the ECC Theater on Ewha campus. This exhibition was meant to be something greater than a mere display of artistic
creativity of people with ASD. It has demonstrated the potential for them to become artists and to have an occupation by which
they can make a living. Stationeries, furniture and a variety of daily used items that exemplify the ingenuity not often found
in non-ASD individuals drew many to the exhibition.   

Dr. Lee So-hyun, an expert in the education of children with ASD explained, “The exhibition was organized in order to let the
world know that people with ASD have many talents.” She also emphasized that this was the first step to founding a design
academy dedicated to training students with ASD to become designers.

Lee Jin-woo, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Cooperation Office of SK Planet said, “All who came to the
exhibition experienced beauty in the pieces on display, because they are the fruits of true love and passion for what one does.”
He then went on to say, “We will continue educational programs for people with ASD so that they may live as proud members
of our society. We will do this not so much as to help them but to walkwith them on the same path towards that bright future.”