MONTEREY, CA, April 30, 2025 – Monterey Regional Airport’s Art at the Airport program celebrates neurodiversity with the installation of a new student art exhibition in its Youth Art Gallery. “Celebrating Neurodiversity Through Art” features distinctive medium compositions created by lower, middle, and high school students at Seaside’s Chartwell School.

Curated by art instructors Emily Garber (Lower and Middle School) and Domenique Grillo (High School), this exhibition demonstrates the amazing range of talents of the diverse student population of Chartwell’s art program. The gallery of artwork aims to inspire those passing through the airport terminal to get to know, understand, and value its featured student artists, recognizing their unique creative voices and styles.

“At Chartwell, we believe that neurodiversity is not a challenge to overcome, but a superpower to be celebrated,” says Danielle Patterson, Head of School, Chartwell School. “Our students see the world differently—and that difference fuels their creativity, innovation, and brilliance. When we focus on their strengths, especially through the lens of art and expression, we witness the extraordinary. This is the power of strength-based education: it doesn’t just support students—it empowers them to lead, create, and inspire.”

“Celebrating Neurodiversity Through Art” will be displayed in Monterey Regional Airport’s Youth Art Gallery now through summer of 2025. Passengers and airport visitors are encouraged to view the new Art at the Airport exhibition and celebrate our region’s young artists.

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About Chartwell School Chartwell School, located on 60 acres in Seaside, CA, is founded upon the belief that literacy is a human right. Chartwell serves 200 students with dyslexia and other associated learning differences who are not currently reaching their full potential. The school does this in grades 1-12 by providing strengths-based, targeted, direct instruction to empower them with the skills, tools, strategies, and social-emotional mindset they need to thrive in college and beyond.

Chartwell School shares their expertise through partnerships and outreach initiatives to transform education. The Chartwell Teaching Institute provides public, private, and charter school teachers with science-based tools and strategies to educate students with specific learning disabilities. Chartwell is also engaged in a research partnership with the UCSF Dyslexia Center that couples the latest scientific discoveries in neuroscience with classroom-based intervention strategies.

Committed to fostering a diverse school environment that is equitable, inclusive, and safe, Chartwell aspires to show the world that neurodiverse learners are among the most creative, productive, and valuable members of any community.