Artist Sends Nonverbal Autistic Teenager Butterfly Machine After Video of Him Watching It Goes Viral

By Peyton Phillips September 21, 2021
A nonverbal autistic teen went to an exhibit where he was so enchanted by a butterfly machine that he said the word 'butterfly' for the first time. The original artist found out and sent the teen the machine.

Odin Frost is a nonverbal autistic teenager that lives with his parents in Tyler, Texas. Several years ago, his parents took him to a local butterfly exhibit, where Odin was enchanted by a particular butterfly machine.

“Odin was so moved by it that he said the word ‘butterfly’ for the first time and just kept laughing with joy,” said his father, Tim Frost. Tim shared the clip to Instagram and it ended up reaching the original artist and creator of the machine, J.C. Fontanive. 

 

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A post shared by Frost Family (@quaruntim)

“He asked for an address to send a gift to Odin to. We were assuming it would maybe be an art print as a card, but to our surprise he sent us the same exact art installation! We were shocked and moved to tears,” Frost said.

“J. C. Fontanive hand painted each frame and built the inner workings and motors by hand. He is one of the kindest and most talented humans we’ve met in this life and hope to get to hang with him face to face soon!”

Image source: Real Fix Magazine