For Donovan Blackburn, president and CEO of the Pikeville Medical Center, the subject of autism is a personal one.

In 2017, his two-year-old granddaughter Ava was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. And the challenges his family faced finding care, traveling hundreds of miles to visit with specialists, were a big motivator in his efforts to build a care facility in Pikeville, the Appalachian Valley Autism (AVA) Center, which has grown to where it’s now one of the largest of its kind in the nation.

“Part of the AVA Center’s mission is advocacy and education, and that’s because a lot of people don’t understand what autism is,” Blackburn said. “It’s labeled as a disability, but it’s not. It’s a different set of abilities, one that enables a child to see the world differently.”

His drive to promote autism awareness will soon get a boost from an unlikely source: an animated series.

This month, KET will begin airing a new PBS KIDS series, Carl the Collector, which is the first of its kind to feature central characters on the autism spectrum (see story on page 5). The series follows the everyday adventures of Carl, a warm-hearted autistic raccoon, and is created by a production team that includes neurodiverse writers, animators and voice talent.

“The first time I saw a clip from the program I got choked up,” Blackburn said. “Realizing that the voice behind Carl is actually a young man who’s also on the spectrum, it just broke my heart with happiness. Here is a cartoon that both a neurotypical child and a child on the spectrum can relate to and learn and grow from. And having that representation, I think the impact it will have will be immeasurable.”

It’s so important to have a voice in our state that tells an unbiased story and serves as an advocate for education.

Donovan Blackburn, president and CEO, Pikeville Medical Center

As a new member of KET’s fundraising board, Blackburn said it’s only fitting that the children’s series will air daily on KET, a network he said he was honored to join for its commitment to education and serving the needs of the Commonwealth.

“It was a huge eye-opener for me just to see everything that KET does for Kentuckians,” Blackburn said. “It’s so important to have a voice in our state that tells an unbiased story and serves as an advocate for education. And KET, which I relied upon heavily in my former role as Pikeville’s city manager for its coverage of the General Assembly, consistently has shown that it’s committed to doing the right thing and improving lives in the Commonwealth.”

Much of what the AVA Center seeks to teach its “learners” through behavioral therapy revolves around learning to communicate and getting accustomed to new experiences. To that end, the center employs rooms that mimic a trip to the dentist, barbershop and doctor’s office, where children can grow comfortable at their own pace with these kinds of services.

In Carl the Collector, Blackburn said he sees the same spirit of discovery and problem-solving.

“It’s so important that the representation on Carl the Collector be about real stories of real life—and that’s something the program really gets right,” he said. “There’s healing in telling your story. And for the staff at the AVA Center, it was overwhelming when they realized that so much of what they work for on a local level will now reach families across the Commonwealth. We’re obviously going to be promoting it like crazy. I can’t wait.”