Go Go Dreamers hold fundraiser for arts program

Southwest Orange
Neighborhood

Adam and Lisa Kelly know what a positive experience art has been for their children, and they want to share this knowledge with others. The Winter Garden family hosted a fundraiser recently, and dozens of community members and neighbors attended, bringing with them a slew of art supplies to be shared with other children with special needs.

The event, Gift A Dream Night, was held Saturday, Sept. 28, at Barley & Hops Windermere Tavern and included raffles and visits from a number of princesses and superheroes.

GO GO DREAMERS FOUNDATION

The Go Go Dreamers Foundation is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the advancement of and access to art as a therapeutic process for children with special needs.

Founders Adam and Lisa Kelly, who have two sons with special needs, believe art therapy is a powerful tool that promotes focus, accomplishment and self-esteem. As parents, they focus on the process rather than the final product or result.

They created a series of short videos on YouTube two years ago, and their boys — who go by their nicknames, Rooey and Bean Boy — were the stars. They filmed adventures inspired by viewers’ artwork, and the Kellys say this has had “profound emotional and cognitive impacts” and has “decreased the boys’ fear, stress and anxiety and increased their pride and self-worth.”

The Kellys host Dreamer Day events, where children can create with a variety of art-making tools. Each child receives a Dreamer Kit with crayons, markers, paper and activity cards.

For information, call (407) 906-7661 or visit Gogodreamers.org.

The Kelly boys are 7 and 9 and are known publicly by their nicknames, Bean Boy and Rooey, and for their artistic adventures on YouTube. Rooey has autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Bean Boy was born with spina bifida.

When the Kellys discovered their sons reacted positively to the arts, they allowed them to express themselves through drawings and video, which has enhanced their lives.

“Art, as we’ve realized, it improves your focus, your social skills, your self-esteem, all the things you need to be upstanding adults,” Adam Kelly said. “Art has really provided skills … for us, it’s really been the doorway to opening up our world.”

The Go Go Brothers, as they are called, star in art-based, dad-created YouTube videos. Their personal and online success led the family to create the Go Go Dreamers Foundation, so others with disabilities can thrive as the Kelly brothers have.

Fundraisers allow the Kellys to provide art supplies, as well as scholarships to lessons in the arts, to qualified Central Florida children.

“Some of the kids have never been exposed to art, whatever their circumstances,” Adam Kelly said. “We really wanted to do an event that was about gifting dreams for these kids.”

author

Amy Quesinberry

Community Editor Amy Quesinberry was born at the old West Orange Memorial Hospital and raised in Winter Garden. Aside from earning her journalism degree from the University of Georgia, she hasn’t strayed too far from her hometown and her three-mile bubble. She grew up reading The Winter Garden Times and knew in the eighth grade she wanted to write for her community newspaper. She has been part of the writing and editing team since 1990.