Filmmaker Ryan Cunningham explores how storytelling and humor can reshape our understanding of neurodivergence, and the urgent need for authentic neurodivergent representation in media. Drawing from personal experiences as a parent of an autistic child and navigating life with ADHD, she reveals how comedy can bridge understanding and challenge stereotypes. She highlights the power of authentic representation in comedy—showing how diverse voices not only make us laugh but also foster empathy, inclusion, and deeper human connection. Ryan Cunningham is a queer writer/director and Emmy & Peabody award-winning producer in film, television, and theater. Directing credits include the hit off-Broadway show Sugar Daddy and the upcoming award-winning feature Lone Wolves. TV Producing credits include Broad City, Search Party, and Inside Amy Schumer. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter, who likes to build elaborate installations around their apartment. Ryan is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, a former professor in the Film/Animation/Video department and a Trustee on RISD’s Board. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Valerie’s talk weaves her travels and use of plein air painting as a tool to look deeply, asserting that paying attention gives us the power to empathize with the landscapes around us, a vital tool to conserve our commons and the living beings who depend on them. In a critical time of environmental stress and mass displacement, Mirra’s talk illuminates how reclaiming our connection to land is key to experiencing the world as home, as worthy of saving, and as repairable, so long as we have eyes to see it. Valerie Mirra is an immigrant, traveler, and avid outdoorswoman. Valerie has maintained a devoted plein air practice around the world, including Europe, Central America, the Middle East, and the United States from Louisiana to Alaska. Her figurative paintings, centering on animal and plant adaptation in the wake of natural disaster, are created directly from images produced through this research based practice. Here, she finds the opportunity to look closely into the environment, experiencing its simultaneous vulnerability and resilience. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Angelo's talk addresses concerns of Indigenous Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence for Native American communities, in particular, the Navajo Nation and how this tribal nation can engage it from a cultural and philosophical context. Dr. Angelo Baca (Diné/Hopi) is an assistant professor at the Rhode Island School of Design in History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences with a focus on Indigenous and Native American Studies. His work encompasses sacred lands protection, repatriation, and food sovereignty reflecting his commitment to collaborative research with Indigenous communities on equal and respectful terms and a long-standing dedication to both Western and Indigenous knowledge. Additionally, he serves on the Reconciliation on Derogatory Placenames and the Bears Ears National Monument Committees appointed by Secretary Deb Haaland. He strives to empower local and traditional knowledge keepers of Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their own cultural practices and landscapes. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Michelle’s TED Talk is about family traditions, foraging for so-called weeds, making believe, making messes, being stubborn, and finding hidden color in the everyday. Michelle is a Senior Lecturer at Rhode Island School of Design in the Theory & History of Art & Design. An anthropologist/archaeologist (PhD Brown University), textile artist/designer, and naturalist specializing in global traditional, Indigenous, and historic ways of making. Michelle's work in textiles involves every stage of the production chain using small-scale traditional and Indigenous approaches, from sourcing and preparing pigments and fibers to spinning, dyeing, felting, weaving, knitting, and finishing. Michelle’s textile studio/workshop is called Hedge Witch Labs. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Shoutout to Raheem who took a few of the photos, my boy Dante, my man Nelson, Jayvon, Brandon, Johnathan, Khalil, Stephen, Boston Maki, and KZ, the local figures doin’ it bigger, keeping the culture alive and representin’ so I can represent.Shoutout OUTS, Circle T, TF, DBM, DNA, YME, TFD, TLC, SCV, KRD, doin’ damage to the enemy. Rest in peace GYER, TOMB, PYRO, ATSET, and MORG.Shoutout Fall River, Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Attleboro, Brockton, New Bedford, Taunton, and all the nomads in between.Shoutout to the local heads fightin’ to keep their beds, to everybody tightroping the poverty line balancing between stability and starvation, and to the saints who get painted as the devil by the devil.Shoutout everybody in the Southside, everybody in the Eastside, and everybody above 195 who ain't in the Highlands all comfortable.And if you ain’t understand what i'm saying, I ain't talkin’ to you, mind ya business.Southside Pride till the day I die,Crimson Ebony till the death of me.I love y’all, Stay up. Isaiah “Prophet” Raines is an interdisciplinary artist from Fall River, Massachusetts. Due to his ability to recognize the early stages of artwashing in his city he’s been able to study and track its progress for years, collecting evidence and doing all he can to help preserve the identity. In 2023, he and his family were displaced from their apartment in the Southside of Fall River as a result of gentrification, causing Prophet to lose connection with one of the most cherished aspects of his life.He intends to speak on his experiences and provide strategies for pushback, warning about a process he’s seen replicated in almost every city he’s stepped foot in since. He also intends to spark hope in the people he loves, people who typically have to invisibly withstand what he personally understands to be a uniquely evil manifestation of greed and inhumanity. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Gresh's talk challenges the way we see maintenance, proving that fostering, not just fixing, can lead to lasting innovation—whether it’s a car, a toaster, or even a bonsai tree.” Gresh, a designer and self-proclaimed “pretengineer,” explores how simple, DIY modifications can make old vehicles more sustainable. In this TED Talk, he shares how he transformed a a 1994 Toyota Hiace —boosting its fuel efficiency and running it on biofuel —all in a weekend. Drawing from his experience building race cars with Brown University engineers, Gresh applies aerodynamics and ecology to rethink transportation. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx