Cleveland Heights man communicates with artwork  11:43 AM, Jan
2, 2013   |    comments   • Share   • Print   • - A A A +  A
typical day for 28-year-old Seth Chwast involves hours upon
hours of working in his art studio, a brightly lit room on the
third floor of his Cleveland Heights home.  "When he paints,
he's happy," says Debra Chwast, Seth's mother.  For Seth,
painting allows him to communicate with the outside world,
something he otherwise can't do.  "A little before [Seth] was
two, we found out he was autistic," explains Debra. "He was
sunny, he was happy, and he didn't talk."  Debra says she tried
therapy after therapy to jump-start Seth's speaking, but nothing
worked.  "When he was 12, I understood that he was not going to
wake up and start speaking," she says. "Part of it was
heartbreaking and part of it was liberating."  Instead on
focusing on what Seth couldn't do, Debra insisted on tapping
into his passions. That included many trips to haunted houses
and rollercoaster parks. He also had an affinity