Robert Thornton starts a new campaign every two weeks with his business Paper Clouds Apparel, a Seed Spot venture that raises funding for special needs schools and organizations while showcasing their artistic talents. He donates half of the money earned back to the school or organization they worked with.
Paper Clouds Apparel’s current campaign is with Sounds of Autism, an organization aimed at integrating children with autism and their families back into the community.
Artwork is collected from people with a range of disabilities — including autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy — and put on shirts, greeting cards and 8-inch by 10-inch prints, Thornton said.
Thornton said he got the idea for his company when he was visiting his mother, a bus driver for special needs children in northern California. Thornton saw a drawing on his mother’s fridge that a little girl on her route had given her and he thought it would look really cool on a T-shirt.
“I just remember being mesmerized by it. It was just so different and cool,” Thornton said. “In just a weird, creative way, it was like nothing I’d ever seen before.”
Thornton’s goal for the future of the company is to work with larger organizations such as Autism Speaks in order to propel it into the mainstream. This way, the smaller organizations will have a larger benefit from each campaign, Thornton said.
“It’s like how you see a shark and all those little fish swimming around right next to it. When it attacks something, food just falls out of his mouth. They just gobble it up and live off of that. That’s how I want these little organizations to feel,” Thornton said.
Joe Armstrong, vice president of Paper Clouds Apparel, met Thornton in 2001 when he first moved to Phoenix. They waited tables at Z’Tejas in Tempe together.
Paper Clouds Apparel’s current campaign with Sounds of Autism is unique because the organization’s founder, Cricket Barrientos, is also Armstrong’s general manager at Z’Tejas, Armstrong said, adding that most of the organizations that take part in Paper Clouds Apparel’s campaigns come from out of state.
Armstrong said it is sometimes tough to convince organizations to join their campaign, even though they have nothing to lose.
“They have been so accustomed to hearing different kinds of fundraising ideas that requires them to, you know, pony up some money or buy something to put their name on and then sell,” Armstrong said. “What we tell them is that all we need is some art from you and we’ll do everything else. Sometimes that sounds too good to be true.”
Above all, Armstrong said he likes working with Thornton because of the passion he has for this project.
“That passion can be contagious,” Armstrong said. “It’s nice to remember if I’m getting down or feeling frustrated, he’s always there to make sure that everyone believes in what’s going on.”
Barrientos said she will use the money gained from the campaign with Paper Clouds Apparel to bring a voice for autism in her community in Goodyear, Ariz. She will be giving a motivational speech called Life on a Spectrum: A Parent’s Journey through Autism to school districts around the Valley.
Barrientos will be giving the speech first at Mabel Padgett Elementary School, she said. She is also talking to Scottsdale and Chandler school districts about giving her speech at those schools.
“I was looking for something in my life where I could give back. This was my idea to change the world,” Thornton said. “I truly believe that we can do that.”
Contact the reporter at jkalafut@asu.edu
