It's a place where daydreams can come true.
The Daydream Machine is a new business established by the ACT's Local Hero of the Year, Luke Ferguson.
It's all about supporting young people living with disability to explore their interests and talents in music, science, the arts and technology.
The business, in Fyshwick, was officially launched on Thursday night, ahead of Saturday's World Autism Awareness Day.
Mr Ferguson, a youth support worker at The Woden School, was named the ACT's Local Hero in the 2022 Australian of the Year awards for helping to empower young people with a disability.
The Daydream Machine is an extension of that ethos, a business he has funded himself, without grants, to give young people a safe place to see through a project of their choice from beginning to end.
Most of the student programs at Daydream Machine are technology-based, providing students with industry-standard skills and an "authentic and realistic career pathway in a creative field of their interest".
The place is open to students of all abilities, aged from 10 to 18. All those enrolled at the moment have autism.
"They are incredibly talented, with a laser focus," Mr Ferguson said.
"Getting together the 13 students enrolled at the moment has really been like assembling a super hero team."
One of the Daydream Machine's students is 11-year-old Grace Flanagan. She undertook a Caramel Slice Olympics, sampling and keeping score of caramel slices from 25 cafes around Canberra. (The winner was Home Ground Cafe at the Hughes shops.)
Grace, a year six student at St Vincent's Primary School in Aranda, has also recorded a song, Blank Wall, which will be released on Spotify next term.
The launch was a showcase of what the students had achieved so far.
Logan Firth, 16, produced an audio-book recording of her work called Children of the Library.
Eighteen-year-old Jacob Brennan built an incredible marble run made from recycled materials.
Another student, Peta, staged a show of her artwork, all related to living with autism, which sold out.
"It's just providing an opportunity to showcase their interest," Luke said.
"It's like Jake with the marble run. If he wants to do that, we'll run with that.
"Another student, Charlotte, is obsessed with '90s gangsta rap. I was like, 'How about you perform to one of your own beats at the launch party?' And she did and she smashed it. It's just giving the students a chance to do what they want to do."
And that's why it's called the Daydream Machine.
"If you've got a dream and you want to see it come to life, I can help you make it happen because that's what I'm passionate about - changing perceptions about what people with autism are capable of doing."
- Follow the Daydream Machine on Instagram @daydreammachine1 or Facebook www.facebook.com/daydreammachine1
