This October 18th, Spectrum Laboratory and our award-winning short film “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” were honored by Los Angeles County and the city of West Hollywood at the 2023 Disability Awareness Month Awards!
Held by the city of West Hollywood’s Disabilities Advisory Board, the 25th annual awards ceremony took place at the We-Ho City Council Chambers. The ceremony included a presentation of four Disability Service Awards to individuals and organizations dedicated to advocacy on behalf of people living with disabilities.
Spec Labs took home the ceremony’s Media Award for its acclaimed short film, “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses.” The film, a coming-of-age fairytale which follows the experiences of an autistic, transgender artist, was written and inspired by the life of one of Spec Labs’ very own students, Aloni Schorin. Schorin accepted the award alongside the film’s director and Spec Labs’ co-founder, Jason Weissbrod. Check out their acceptance speech at the awards ceremony below!
This amazing honor included a plaque from the city of West Hollywood, and several certificates of recognition from the California State Legislature and Senate. A particularly touching note on the California State Legislature certificate extends “Deep respect and heartfelt admiration” to Spec Labs’ “unwavering commitment and service, of eight years, empowering [our] student artists by celebrating neurodiversity and inclusion in the arts,” especially through our short film, “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses.” The message goes on to say that Spec Labs’ consistent acts of kindness and generosity have made the state of California “a better place in which to work, live, and thrive.”
Spec Labs is so proud of its community and all those who worked on “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses,” especially its creator and inspiration, Aloni Schorin. We are so excited to announce that our award-winning film is now officially live on Youtube! You can watch the film and our awesome Spec Labs’ artists in action at this link.
Please watch and share the film with your friends, family, and loved ones, so that we can all celebrate the incredible work of our neurodiverse and autistic artists. We hope to have many more successes like this one under our belts in the future and cannot wait to see what comes next! A big thank you and congratulations to our Spec Labs' family!
Learn more about the film at: https://www.speclabs.org/boysdontweardresses
