When you think about art, do you think of it as something that can literally transform a person's life? Probably not. But for us, that perception changed when we learned of the EyeWriter, a technology that allows paralyzed individuals to communicate and create art using only the movement of their eyes.

When Mick Ebeling, a creative producer in California, first heard that a graffiti writer named TEMPT1 hadn't been able write or make art for the last seven years due to paralysis from ALS, he began to research ways in which he could help. TEMPT1 was communicating only by blinking at a letter on a sheet of paper as someone brushed their finger down the alphabet. But his father knew that his son was still full of creativity and ideas, he just didn't have a way to bring them to life. Insurance companies would not pay for adaptive technology, and buying a solution outright was just too expensive.

That's when Ebeling discovered the Laser Writer, an open source DIY project developed by the Graffiti Research Lab at Eyebeam, a New York-based nonprofit organization. The Laser Writer lets people write graffiti with a pen that transmits a message to a laser which is then projected on buildings.

Ebeling formed a group to explore what the technology could do for TEMPT1. A year later, with a pair of glasses bought on Venice Beach, a point-and-shoot camera, and some parts from Radio Shack, the EyeWriter was born.

It was with the EyeWriter that TEMPT1 wrote his first piece of graffiti in eight years.

TEMPT1 wrote Ebeling this note after the first night using the EyeWriter: "I feel like I had been held underwater and someone finally reached down and pulled my head up so I could take a breath."

What is even more remarkable about the EyeWriter is that it costs less than $50 to make.

For changing people's lives with art and technology, we're honored to recognize Mick Ebeling and the EyeWriter as Character Approved.

[Image: Laughing Squid]