I’ve recently finished a huge, nature-inspired school mural in NYC that fills a stairwell in a Bronx school that specializes in education for young autistic children aged 2-5. It was one of those projects that really sparked my interest, I was able to take a deep dive during the design process and centre myself around what would best serve the kids.

I was coming at the project with little experience designing specifically for nuerodivergent children, so I wanted to share my findings. I’d also love to hear any insights from others with experience in this area, including whether anything could have been tackled in a different, more effective way.

Collaborating with an NYC interior designer

I took the subway up to Elder Avenue in the Bronx, and met the interior designer on the project. He explained they wanted a large, eye-catching mural to transform the dull stairwell into a welcoming, joyful space- something appealing to both young children and their parents.

We spoke about animals (often a big hit with little ones) as well as possibly bringing in a scientific twist like a life cycle. He also showed me what they had done with the school so far, using nature-inspired colours and lots of natural textures like wood.

Research for an early childhood school mural specialising in Autism

The client was very open to hear what I thought would be the best fit for the space, so I started researching and brainstorming.

Because the school specialises in supporting autistic children, the project’s interior designer Adham, also shared some tips from his own research. He had used colour-coded different areas of the school to make it easier to navigate the building; something that can otherwise be a challenge.

He also said to stay away from making everything very dull and pastel. This was a bit of a cliché in designs for neurodivergent children, and what would be better is to create something that was neither over or understimulating- a middle ground.

We also talked about how differently autistic children can experience their surroundings, and how there would never be a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Instead, the aim was to create something that would appeal to as many of the children as possible.

I took these conversations as my starting point and researched designing for young children with autism, below are my findings and thought processes:

Visual cues are helpful for way-finding; something already seen in the school’s colour-coded interiors. The mural could act as a distinct landmark.
Some research talked about sensory "transition zones" like gardens being beneficial; painting a calming nature scene could provide a similar experience.
Autistic children can be both hyper and hypo visual (be under or over-stimulated by images). Therefore it is important to create neither a beige dull mural or a busy, overstimulating one. Instead opting for a calming and harmonious middle- ground.
Some guidance suggested that bright red and yellow can be jarring so I chose to avoid these colours.
Something that resonated with me is how a lot of research points to the positive impact of spending time in deep nature for children with autism. I also find being immersed in nature deeply calming. I wanted to capture a little bit of that feeling in this artwork and also encourage the children to explore nature that is easily accessible from their homes; focusing on local flora and fauna.

The school mural design process

I lent into what I’d discovered so far, and created a mood board to share the direction I was envisioning with the client. To do this I spent a wonderful day exploring my local green space, Prospect Park. I saw a heron, chipmunk, red-eared sliders turtles, wood ducks and geese alongside irises, wild flowers and long grasses.

The day was such a joy, and brought home how good spending time in nature on a little safari in the city can be. If I could just capture even a tiny bit of this wonder and calm and bring it into the school I would be very happy.

The school itself is in the Bronx, is a built up urban area with the main road sitting underneath a loud subway. Yet nature is only a stone’s throw away; just a five minutes to the Bronx river, and 15 minutes in the car to Pelham Bay Park. The park is New York City’s largest and home to all the animals we would add to the educational mural design.

My mood board, a mix of mine and other artists work to inspire the project.

Photos of local animals and flora, some mine and some found online.

The client loved the direction, and I used this to create a digital mock up of the design, something you can see below. Starting from my rough brainstorms, to a polished first draft.

This was the first draft of the mural design- ready to hear the clients feedback.

The feedback was positive, they liked the overall direction, but wanted the mural to feel more day-time and cheerful. Plus they wanted to switch out the frog for a more cute bunny. Below you can see the updated custom school mural.

Hand-painting the mural on site in the Bronx

The client had the wall prepped and ready to go, and I turned up with high quality durable BEHR paint and a number of my handy tools. I divided the wall into quarters and added some tape to help my Virtual Reality headset attach the design onto the wall. I then was able to quickly transfer the design onto the wall.

The mural had a few logistical challenges, the biggest being access to the wall. At around 13ft tall and sandwiched between two staircases, it wasn’t the easiest space to reach. This is my second staircase mural, and I was keen to use a baker scaffold. They’re comfortable to work on and give you a good size space to work on, whereas a scissor lift was out of the question, as there was no way to get it into the space up the stairs. A ladder was an option, but increased the amount of physical labour considerably (don’t underestimate how much going up and down and moving it takes out of you after a number of days!).

So, I organised a Baker Scaffold for the project. My friend and fellow artist Jing Wei kindly offered to lend me hers, which meant renting a U-Haul and driving over to her studio in Greenpoint.

I’ll be honest, I find driving a van in New York a little intimidating. I’m from the UK, so driving a large vehicle on the other side of the road through busy roads around the City was a challenge. I’d done it once before in the city, but for a much easier route.

After a shocking start, where I misjudged the turning circle and embarrassingly didn’t manage to get out of the lot without having to reverse and have another go, I had the time of my life. Apparently I’m a van-woman at heart. I blasted my music looking at the views across Manhattan and drove across a huge industrial bridge on the way.

I picked up the scaffold in Greenpoint and drove it back up to the Bronx, feeling proud that I’d faced something that made me feel anxious and overcame it (and likely it gave me a bit of adrenaline!).

After making a good start of the bottom half of the mural, taking advantage of having more space to paint, I started to put the Baker Scaffold together with the help of a youtube video. I was mainly alone on the project and found there was not enough to assemble it on the stairs without a second pair of hands. I couldn’t lay it on its side, and it was too tricky for me to hold the different steel pieces in the air and slot them together there.

If there’s one thing I do have it’s stubbornness/determination depending on how you look at it. I carried all the pieces down to the large lobby and put the baker scaffold together easily down there (new skill unlocked). I then realised I needed a spare pair of hands to get it back upstairs, and the school owner kindly came and helped me carry it into the space.

It’s for unexpected issues like this that I always add some time padding for every mural project. No matter how much you plan, something unexpected almost always pops up. Factoring in that time from the beginning removes a lot of the stress- and it’s a nice bonus when everything goes smoothly and you finish early, as I did with this one.

With the scaffold up, it was time for me to tackle the top half of the wall. I continued to bring the egret, bunny, turtle, ducks, butterfly and chipmunk to life. I was given some advice by the amazing Natasha May Platt: that the main thing is to stay in the flow. I really allow this to dictate how I paint, if something’s coming together naturally I stay there, if not I switch to something else that feels better. I often benefit from “fresh eyes” and coming back to something later.

Even with the baker scaffold in place, I couldn’t reach the top foot of the wall, so I did a little more creative problem-solving: I taped my brush to a wooden paint mixer. As a professional mural painter I’ve learned to really design for the wall and its practical limitations, so I had purposefully kept this highest section simple.

Creating a focal point within the school

One of my favourite things about the finished mural is how it changed what was previously a dull staircase into a warm, welcoming landmark as the kids enter the school. I love the idea of the children searching for all the different animals, spotting the chipmunk perched on top of the fire pipes and interacting with these familiar animals for years to come. You can see more images of this project in my portfolio here.

Murals in schools feel like a huge opportunity; they thoughtfully craft a space with love, and encourage the children to engage with the arts. For this NYC school mural, we also celebrate their local nature and encourage them to explore green spaces, something that can be beneficial for wellbeing.

Would you like a beautiful mural for your school?

I create custom murals for schools, Pre-Ks, nurseries and educational spaces across Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx (and further afield). If you’re interested to hire a mural artist in NYC and create something special for your school, please check out my portfolio or book a free consultation here.

What I learned designing a School Mural for young neurodivergent children