Meet Our Partners
Our Nicholas Foundation
Our journey into this work was shaped by the story behind Our Nicholas Foundation.
When Mark and Kathy Anselmo learned that their son, Nicholas, was autistic, they found themselves navigating a landscape with limited resources and few clear pathways. Like many families, they gathered information piece by piece, learning as they went.
They started Our Nicholas Foundation so others would not have to walk that same uncertain road alone.
What began as a simple effort to share information and raise support grew into a mission to promote acceptance, build awareness and create opportunity for the autistic community.
While the foundation ultimately closed during the COVID pandemic, the spirit behind it did not.
The relationships endured. Those connections helped shape what would eventually become Doodle Pirates.
The heart of that early effort continues to influence how we build today.
TERI has long been a leader in creating education, housing and employment opportunities for individuals with autism and other developmental differences.
Their decades of experience reflect a belief we share: meaningful work changes lives.
Today, our collaboration is active and growing.
Through silkscreen training initiatives, we've worked alongside TERI's programs to develop clear, supportive pathways into production work. The results have been strong enough that silkscreened apparel is now becoming part of our product line.
As we refine inclusive manufacturing systems, TERI's team continues to expand how training can be structured for clarity and confidence. Their interest in our developing software platform has also sparked early conversations about future coding and technology based training opportunities.
Together, we are building pathways into meaningful work, skill development and long term opportunity.
The Savants is a community dedicated to elevating lived experience into visibility, voice and shared strength for neurodivergent individuals and their families.
Through advocacy, storytelling and honest dialogue, The Savants brings real family experience into public conversation.
Our collaboration with The Savants continues to grow through shared conversation and aligned purpose.
Their emphasis on authentic voice and cultural awareness has influenced how we think about support, design and lived experience in our work. As a result, we accelerated the development of our human centered software platform, moving it from distant roadmap to active priority.
Together, we are advancing work that honors lived experience as expertise, dialogue as design insight and connection as resource.
Multiple brings deep experience in technology strategy and operational design.
As we continue developing our human centered software platform, early conversations have opened thoughtful dialogue around how technology can grow without losing its human focus.
While this relationship is still unfolding, the alignment is clear. As our platform matures, we look forward to exploring how strong technical foundations and disciplined growth can help it remain steady, clear and mission driven.
Mentoring Autistic Minds is dedicated to supporting autistic youth and adults through guidance, encouragement and real-world connection.
Our early conversations have revealed strong alignment around training, mentorship and long-term opportunity. We see meaningful potential in working together to develop thoughtful training strategies, create clearer transitions from learning to employment and support individuals who may one day become part of the Doodle Pirates team.
As a Fallbrook resident, I set out to find a local shop to support our early screen-printing efforts. That search connected us with Vince and Fawn Van Haeren and their thoughtful, hands-on approach to their craft.
As our work evolved and we began exploring screen printing as a result of training efforts with TERI’s Art Program, we learned that our initial approach, using stencils and sponge brushes, did not provide the consistency needed for a repeatable process. That realization led us to refine the approach, and our relationship with Ultra Graphix naturally deepened.
Vince and Fawn have been generous partners throughout, providing technical guidance, helping prepare screens for student training, and sharing practical advice on equipment, workflow, and technique. They have also supported early product development through prototype hoodie printing, helping us bring ideas into real, testable products.
Together, we are continuing to develop screen printing as both a product capability and a pathway into meaningful work.
Thank You to Our Partners
We are deeply grateful for the organizations and individuals who share this journey.
Each partnership strengthens our ability to support families, expand opportunity and build workplaces where different minds thrive.
If you believe the future can be built differently, come build it with us.
