Golden Goody Award – Autistic Teen Animator Dani Bowman

The Goody Awards was proud to honor Dani Bowman, Autistic Teen Animator, with it’s top award, a Golden Goody (our top humanitarian award) on Friday, April 20, 2012, as part of their cause marketing campaign for Autism Acceptance Month. To honor the many social good contributions of Dani Bowman, an autistic teen leader who illustrated two anti-bully books and new Rethinking Autism PSA, Teen Actor Lauren Dair Owens (who plays the younger Zooey Deschanel on New Girl/ Fox) will presented this Golden Goody Award trophy.

This celebration included the new release of a Rethinking Autism PSA (Public Service Announcement) with voiceover and illustrations by Dani Bowman, and was presented at a special Goody Awards ceremony hosted by Deutsch LA Advertising Agency in Los Angeles, CA, with other young actors, including Zach Callison (Prince James in Disney’s Sofia the First) and Stella Ritter (Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader), activists and entertainment industry leaders.

As an autistic leader who aspires to be the Temple Grandin of her generation, Dani Bowman has taught over 150+ autistic children animation. She started her own animation company at only 11, Powerlight Studios, writes and voice acts 9 different cartoon series, and speaks about her anti-bully books at events. And during this ceremony, Dana Commandatore, Rethinking Autism Co-Founder, presented Dani with a book that congratulated her for all her animation work. Dani then did a wonderful Temple Grandin impression, which can can watch in this speeches VIDEO: Golden Goody Presentation to Dani Bowman.

Dani Bowman will select the autistic child who receives the iPad for the Goody Awards Autism Acceptance Month Sweepstakes based on a needs survey that she is currently doing with Extra Special Kids on Facebook. For anyone with an autistic child, Dani Bowman recorded a video to tell parents how the winner will be selected: http://youtu.be/s8c097WE-wU