Founded in 2020

ASK: Advocates for Spectrum Knowledge.

ASK is a new type of resource center for individuals on the Autism Spectrum and their families. The key difference between us and other resource centers is that our main contributors of information are on the Autism Spectrum. We feel that this gives everyone a direct inside look at the every day trials and experiences one might be feeling day by day. We aim to provide useful knowledge from an inside perspective while respecting everyone’s opinions. We understand that not every person will have the same insight and perspectives on each matter. We will try to address this by creating open forums to promote intellectual discussions on how these vast array of opinions are gathered. Our goal is to advocate as much useful Autism Spectrum knowledge as possible and allow each individual to form their own opinions on each subject with educated knowledge.

We will tackle some controversial topics within the community along the way. And by doing so we know that we will be left open to backlash on the topics. We want to reiterate that we are not taking any topic from one stand point and we are not pushing our opinions on any one of you but instead utilizing the experience and knowledge that we have obtained along the way to help every one on their own journey to understanding and acceptance. The beauty behind what we are trying to achieve is to further knowledge and understanding across everyone, including ourselves. The more we all know what is happening around us the better every one can be heard.

A little bit about how we got started.

ASK is a branch of Spark Project Collective which is the worlds only non-profit tattoo shop. From 2002-2008 our founder Johnny Vasquez worked for the organization Autism Speaks and discovered that he did not agree with many of their current policies and beliefs. At that time he broke away from Autism Speaks and starting to develop his own idea for a foundation with the main idea being a direct source to the community. As in, the funds that are being raised are going directly back into the community and not into a research aspect trying to find a cure to something that has no cure. Johnny understood that the problem he was seeing was that in the attempt to find the cure the individuals in the mist of the struggles were being over looked. The young were getting older and finding it difficult to transition into a work force or society on their own. There was not enough assistance and education being provided to these individuals to help them be successful. With this understanding and concern the birth of We are the SPARK Project was born. Through this foundation Johnny worked on supplementing further education, renovations of damage done to homes, food assistance, physical movement and language programs and even assisting sitting in with a couple individuals to help them obtain college and vocational degrees. Upon moving to Tucson, AZ to be closer to his eldest daughter Johnny wanted to start something new and inventive to if he could find ways to circulate funds more efficiently without seeking government grants and sponsorships. This brings us to the start of Spark Project Collective. Spark Project Collective is where the merger of two worlds takes place with a lot more going on in the middle. Johnny being an owner of a tattoo shop and other businesses saw that the world of the retail for profit could help be the power source for a non profit model. All while attempting to remove a negative stigma placed on the tattoo and body piercing industry. In this model the standard proceeds (all funding left over after employee, supply and rental costs) go into programs created in house and back into the local community so it can circulate further for the over all better good and assistance. Through this process up to date Spark Project Collective has been able to start Art Therapy programs and STEM/STIM programs held weekly to assist local children (currently on hold due to the pandemic). SPC has also started a year long homeless drive, which has produced more than 250,000 articles of clothing, 4,500 hygiene kits, 10,000 bottles of water and over 20,000 meals. We also have been able to launch a year long toy drive where we sell goods throughout the year to multiply the amount of toys we have by the holidays. At this current time of Dec 1, 2020 we have donated over 42,000 toys to our local foster community. We have consistently increased our workforce to establish more jobs in our community, currently at 36. Best of all we have been able to put back into the local non-profits of Tucson, AZ roughly 1.3 million dollars in a 3 year span and we are growing rapidly. That gets us to the launch of this website and new branch of Spark Project Collective, ASK: Advocates for Spectrum Knowledge. This site has been in the workings since the covid-19 pandemic hit and abruptly shut down our Art Therapy programs. ASK is our way to continue to hold up to our promises of helping our community in a new creative way. We are very proud to launch this site and attempt to open more eyes to the ongoing surroundings of the individuals on the Autism Spectrum. As time goes on we will continue to launch new items and ideas via this site. This is only just the beginning!