Making a difference with art

Amal Ajayakumar is in his late teens; though basic communication is a challenge for him, Amal is a walking music library. “He has over a 100 songs stored in his brain and the way he sings, with such clarity and emotion often touches the listener,” says Gopinath Muthukad, magician and founder of Different Arts Centre (DAC). Amal, who is autistic, is one of the students at the centre which was started with 100 young people with disabilities in Thiruvananthapuram in 2019.