A paintbrush moves slowly across the paper. Dhriti is focused on the colours in front of her, adding one shade after another to a painting that, to someone else, may simply look like a piece of art.
But to her mother, Shweta Runwal, moments like these hold a much deeper meaning.
Years ago, when Dhriti was still a little girl and could speak only in single words, she came home with a diary. On one of its pages, she had drawn two stick figures. One of them was crying.
Shweta was worried and asked her daughter what had happened. Dhriti tried to explain that her friend was moving away.
“It was the first time I realised she was actually trying to communicate through art,” Shweta recalls.
For a mother who had spent years hearing questions about what her daughter would or would not be able to do, the moment offered a different possibility.
Perhaps the better question was not what Dhriti could not do, but what she could express, create and become.
From paintings to lifestyle products, Tickle Your Art brings original artwork by neurodiverse artists to a wider audience while preserving the individuality of their work.
That question would eventually grow into Tickle Your Art, a social enterprise that works with artists with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities, turning their original artwork into lifestyle products, books, corporate gifts and more.
But the idea did not begin as a business. It began at home, with Dhriti.
Before the diagnosis, there was Dhriti
Dhriti was diagnosed with Down syndrome a few days after she was born. At two months, doctors also discovered a hole in her heart and advised the family to consider surgery.
For Shweta, the early years came with another challenge: the assumptions surrounding her daughter’s diagnosis.
“People saw her diagnosis before they saw her,” she says. “They had already written her off.”
There were questions about whether Dhriti would walk or talk, whether she would ever have a career, and what her future would look like. At the time, Shweta says, there were fewer avenues for parents to find information or connect.
Dhriti was Tickle Your Art’s first artist. Today, the social enterprise has worked with more than 25 neurodiverse artists.
Her own parents, however, took a different approach. “They were like, ‘Just treat her like any other baby,” she recalls.
That trust became Shweta’s biggest support system. She had trained as an architect and had also worked in London, where she first discovered how powerfully art and design could be used as forms of expression. But as Dhriti grew, Shweta began volunteering with the Down Syndrome Federation of India and meeting more families.
She slowly began to notice a gap. The conversation was often about what children with intellectual disabilities might not be able to do. Shweta wanted to ask a different question: What if we started with what they could?
Art became a language and a possibility
After Dhriti’s early experience with drawing, Shweta began looking for art classes for her.
She eventually started working with several children, helping them explore different forms of creative expression.
For Shweta, inclusion begins by looking beyond a diagnosis and recognising the creativity, skills and possibilities each person brings.
In 2018, she organised an exhibition at Kelkar Museum around World Down Syndrome Day, bringing together artwork by people with Down syndrome and creating products around it.
The response stayed with her.
What began as a personal experiment eventually became Tickle Your Art, which was formally registered in October 2020, during the pandemic. Dhriti became its very first artist.
Within six months, more artists began joining; today, Tickle Your Art has worked with more than 25 neurodiverse artists and is onboarding six more for upcoming launches.
The organisation also runs a community centre where artists receive training, mentorship and employment opportunities, alongside an experience centre where visitors can encounter their work and the stories behind it.
Importantly, the artists do not have to fit into a predetermined idea of what “good” art should look like. “We try not to change the artwork as much as possible,” says Shweta. “We want to see their story.”
Dhriti’s artwork was first showcased at an exhibition organised by Shweta at Kelkar Museum in 2018.
Sometimes, that means designing around an artist’s original lines or colours. Sometimes, it means finding a new way to translate their work into a product.
Every product carries the story of its artist. Shweta describes the idea simply: each product should be responsible for “three smiles” — that of the artist, the person giving it and the person receiving it.
At home, inclusion came naturally
For Ira, Shweta’s younger daughter, this entire world has always been normal. “I’ve never felt this is very different,” Ira says. “I’ve never thought about inclusion, because it is normal for me, and that’s how it should be for everyone.”
That belief has grown alongside the enterprise.
Today, Ira contributes to Tickle Your Art’s marketing and design decisions. Shweta jokes that nothing goes into production without Ira’s approval.
Ira can look at a product and instinctively understand what might appeal to someone, where something should be placed, or how a design could work better.
Ira Runwal contributes to Tickle Your Art’s marketing and design, believing inclusion should be a natural part of everyday life.
But her role goes beyond the business. She also speaks about inclusion in schools and has received recognition for doing so.
For Shweta, watching her daughters grow up together has reinforced something she has long believed: inclusion does not have to be complicated.
“It doesn’t belong to anybody,” she says. “Just give a smile, and others will smile back at you.”
When talent finds a place to work
For Shweta, economic inclusion is not simply about giving someone a job.
It is about helping them recognise that their time, talent and contribution have value.
She remembers when Rohan, a 33-year-old artist with a background in animation and digital design, began working with Tickle Your Art.
When Shweta started paying him, his father wondered whether the small organisation should really be giving him a salary.
For Shweta, there was no question.“He is giving his time. He is coming here sincerely. And I feel that needs to add value,” she says.
That philosophy is also reflected in the way Tickle Your Art operates. Artists can work from home or at the centre, and their work is developed into products based on its originality and the story behind it.
The organisation has now worked with artists across India, with many connections coming through disability organisations and communities.
At Tickle Your Art, Rohan has found an opportunity to reconnect with his passion for art and rebuild his confidence through meaningful work.
For Suzanne, who brings around three decades of HR experience and works with Tickle Your Art as an HR consultant, this has also changed the way she understands inclusion.
“In corporate, we talk about diversity, equity and inclusion,” she says. “But very rarely do we get to live it the way Shweta is living it.”
Her role is largely focused on building the systems and processes that allow the organisation to function sustainably, while Shweta works closely with the artists and creative side.
Suzanne says she has also noticed something else: people sometimes hesitate because they do not know how to interact with people with intellectual disabilities.
“But I have found Dhriti to be extremely loving, warm, intelligent and funny,” she says. “They are just like you and I. There’s no difference.”
When confidence finds its way back
Before Tickle Your Art, 33-year-old Rohan had already worked in animation and had trained in Photoshop, Illustrator and other digital tools.
But after his earlier job ended during the lockdown, he became more introverted.
Then came Tickle Your Art; Rohan has now been associated with the organisation for around a year. His mother, Veena, says art has always been one of his biggest interests. At Tickle Your Art, however, she has watched that interest become a source of confidence and happiness again.
Tickle Your Art develops products around artists’ original creations, ensuring their distinctive styles and stories remain at the heart of the process.
For Veena, that happiness is perhaps the most meaningful change.
She has also seen how spaces like Tickle Your Art can shift the conversation for families, giving children opportunities to learn, work and meet people outside their homes.
And that, ultimately, is what Shweta wants to build.
A space that feels like home
Tickle Your Art has received recognition from several platforms, including Shark Tank India, where Anupam Mittal invested in the venture. It has also received grant support from Jeet Adani, been recognised as an “Industry Disruptor” by UN Women, and showcased its work internationally in Berlin at The DO and H&M exhibition.
Dhriti, meanwhile, received the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in the Shreshth Divyang Balika category for her achievements in art and her role in promoting inclusion.
For Shweta, these milestones matter, but not simply because they validate the organisation.
She remembers a parent of a six-month-old child with Down syndrome reaching out after seeing Dhriti’s videos.
The mother told her that she had felt shattered after the diagnosis, but seeing Dhriti had given her hope. “That is what makes me feel that all of this is worth it,” Shweta says.
Dhriti received the National Award for her achievements in art and contribution to promoting inclusion.
Her dream now is to build similar community spaces across India, places where families can come together, where artists can learn and work, and where art can become a bridge to meaningful livelihoods.
Ira imagines Tickle Your Art becoming known across India and eventually the world. Shweta has an even simpler measure of success: working with many more artists and giving them a platform to begin.
For her, the centre should feel like a second home. A place where a person’s diagnosis does not decide their possibilities, where a painting is not treated as something made “despite” a disability, but simply as someone’s art.
And perhaps, most importantly, a place where inclusion stops being a lofty idea and becomes what Ira has always known it to be — normal.
All images courtesy of Shweta Runwal
