Dallas Looman was drawn to painting at a very young age, first as a different form of communication, one he felt more comfortable with. As an autistic child going through school, he would draw pictures to share what had happened at school with his mom. But that way of communicating soon became an artistic passion, drawn by the creative process and discovering his fluency with the pastel media.

In 2013, one of his pieces was selected by “Very Special Arts,” the international organization on arts and disability, for an exhibition of artwork by emerging young artists with disabilities, held at the S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.