Along with my wife, Kelly, we are working to create opportunities in the East Tennessee area for families with disabilities to help promote inclusion, disability awareness and recourses and new programs.

Cheri Howlett is the camp director for the 1st ever Open Doors Tennessee Autism Social Skills Camp for the summer of 2009. Over the past 13 years, she has been dedicated to helping families affected by autism. After serving on the ASA-ETC board, her positions include “President” (twice), Vice President and Past President. She was the conference chairperson, autism awareness chairperson/coordinator, special events chairperson, and a member of the ASA-ETC golf committee. Recently she was invited to be on the parent panel of the ‘Act Early – Learn the Signs” Autism Region IV Summit that was held in Nashville last month. She is participating in the Partners in Policymaking class in Nashville through the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities and will be graduating this April. She has been married to Jim Howlett for 19 years and is a mother of three – Brad, 27, Chad, 16 and Brenna who is 11. Their middle child, Chad was diagnosed with autism around 3 years of age. Since then, she has acquired extensive knowledge on autism and has attended 30 + autism related workshops/conferences. She has also been a workshop presenter and has held several workshops regarding the Act Early – Learn the Signs campaign. She has appeared on several local radio and TV stations including WUOT and WNOX News Talk 100.3 and Live at Five.

As of August 2008, Jim Howlett joined Open Doors Tennessee. For the last 7 years, he has been an active parent in the autism community by serving on the Autism Society of America - East Tennessee Chapter (ASA-ETC) board. He was also a member of the golf committee. His wife is Cheri Howlett and they have lived in the Powell community for the last 17 years. He is self employed and is the owner of Howlett Equipment Company. He has been in business for about 15 years. He was contacted by Little Tikes Commercial Play Systems which is one of his vendors, about the Picture Exchange Communication System or (PECS). Little Tikes Commercial Playgrounds now has a PECS panel available for their playgrounds. The PECS program is beneficial to all children especially children with autism. Jim designed one of the largest handicap accessible playgrounds in East Tennessee and is well known for the Ashley Nicole’s Dream Playground. He is the proud father of all of his children and devotes a lot of his extra time towards helping out in the disability community.

Mom of a 6 year old little boy with special needs. Special Needs Advocate and Co-Facilitator of the SPECIAL NEEDS SUPPORT GROUP OF LOUDON COUNTY, a division of Open Doors TN and Tennessee Voices for Children. The mission of our Support Group is to build a supportive community group committed to improving the lives of Special Needs Families. One of our goals is to have this group include all members of our Children's TEAMS (Parents, Family Members, Teachers, Therapist,Paraprofessionals, Physicians etc.). Background in Psychiatric Nursing and Case Management.

Mother of three Deidre 24, Syretta 19, snd Derrick 18 who at the age of two was diagnosed with autism. Angela is the director and Advocate for Eyes of Faith Art for Derrick. She has had the opportunity to speek at churches, and events through out Tennessee. She and Derrick conducted the first Austin Peay State University's observance of Disability Awareness the first art show for The Wilbur N. Daniel African American Cultural Center. She is the Author of the book "Eyes of Faith".She is currently in the process of establishing a faucilty "Our Place The Way We See It". A place people are loved and not judged.

Introduced to the Special Needs Community as peer mentor and tutor for the ETSU Office of Special Services, she later served as Child Find Coordinator for Johnson City Schools and assisted with establishing their first interagency collaborative early intervention center based infant and toddler program. After completing the MS in Mathematics, she moved to the University of West Georgia where she twice received the Distinguished Faculty Service Award from the Office of Disability Services. Later, as Chair of Mathematics at TWC, she collaborated with the Office of Disability Services to offer workshops in Mathematical reasoning and test taking for students with specific learning disabilities.

Although she and her husband "Hank" have four grown children and six grandchildren, they are adoptive parents of a child diagnosed with an ASD and also blessed with a pre-teen daughter. Pam serves as coordinator for Open Doors TN Monroe Autism Group and is a volunteer assistant for VSA Arts TN, and serves as a county contact for ASA-ETC. She will begin Partners in Policymaking through the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities in the fall of 2009.

Resides in Knoxville, Tennessee recently received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Arc of The Mid South "Strenghening the Community Through Families and Partners". Outstanding Artist/Performer Award. Derrick also hosts a Back To School Event for Families with Disabilities. Derrick is a 19-year-old young man who at the age of two years old was diagnosed with autism. At the age of two he stopped talking. By the age of three years old he began to draw. That lead to his way of communicating to his family.
He has shown outstanding contribution to his community through his gift of art. His art is and has been an inspiration to many families who has someone or knows of someone with a disability. Each piece of Derrick's art has it's own story to tell. Derrick has proven that regardless of any disability that one might have each of us has something to give back to our community.
Derrick's art has been featured in several newspapers and magazines throughout Tennessee. His art and was recently chosen to be on the cover of the Tennessee Disability MegaConference Cover Book for 2009. He also received The Temple Grandin Award. The World Leader in resource on Autism from Dr. Temple Grandin for outstanding contribution to family, community and self.
Derrick held the first Wilbur N. Daniel African American art show at Austin Peay University.In observance of Disability Awareness.As an result Derrick has been blessed to host art shows and exhibits throughout Tennessee. He has also been blessed to have a website for his artwork:
Click to see Derricks art


Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.