A common complaint parents can have of young teens is that they lack ambition and a sense of service to their community.

That something the parents of Skyline High School’s Amol Garg, Isha Kshirsagar and Nihal Sandadi will never get to say.

The trio of 14-year-old freshmen artists are the founders of “Art by Heart” (ABH) a community service organization devoted to raising funds, raising awareness, and reaching out to people with developmental disabilities through the “second language” of art. This weekend, ABH will be hosting their first awareness and fundraising effort with a booth at the Issaquah Salmon Days festival. This year, ABH is focusing their efforts on autism.

Back in June Garg, Kshirsagar and Sandadi started ABH on their own, without the aid of a higher organization such as a religious or community service group, after noticing a lack of outreach to the developmentally disabled.

“We noticed there were not very many organizations to directly help very many conditions,” Garg said. “We saw that organizations that directly help specific groups like autistic kids did not work as much towards awareness. An important part of working with autism is to work with the kids, and to provide awareness throughout the community.”

The group noticed that there was a gap between the community and autistic kids, whereas ABH believes everybody should be equal, he said, leading to the choice to use art to try and close that gap, a medium to help autistic kids interact with the world around them.

Autism is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “pervasive developmental disorder,” typically manifesting in early childhood, that is marked by difficulty with social interaction and communication, along with restricted and repetitive behaviors. It is ABH’s goal to ease that communication barrier.

“Art is almost like a second language,” Garg said. “It’s a language that everybody speaks, whether it is through arts, through dance, through music, it is something that all of us can understand. It breaks that barrier and lets us all join together.”

In working with autism, ABH is partnering with the Autistic Society of Washington (ASW), a group they were introduced to when ABH volunteered at a water table during the “Heroes for Autism” marathon in Seattle on Aug. 30.

“They reached out to us first and wanted to help,” ASW Executive Director Corrine Daffern said. “They bring a lot of energy.”

For their part, the trio said they receive a lot of support from their parents. Garg’s mother, Kalbana, said she is especially proud of her son’s efforts.

“As a parent, I want to engage him,” she said. “He should contribute to society.”

Art by Heart will be set up on the east side of the “Field of Fun,” 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5, near the Kids Stage and the DockDogs area. There, ABH will have arts and crafts activities, while accepting donations to benefit autism work and awareness charities. The ASW will also be at the booth, distributing information and providing resources for autistic kids.

As part of their fundraising, ABH will be raffling off Xbox One prizes donated by Microsoft, including bags, headphones, XBox One games, and more.

In the end, the important part to remember is that when it comes to kids with autism, its’ up to everybody to work together.

“Where there is a will, there is a way,” Garg said. “Not even the sky is the limit with art.”