"I have been in B.C. since 1964, first in Vancouver where I was involved with education of the deaf and hard of hearing and moved to Kamloops in 1970  to start a programme here but the following year, was appointed principal of a school for mentally challenged students. This became a well known programme in Canada with the development of a second programme for adolescents. In 1979, I received an International Rotary Scholarship to get an M.Ed. at Birmingham University, came back and was appointed Principal of an Elementary School and continued until my retirement in 1996. During this time, I taught Special Education courses at the University of B.C. summer schools and also for Canadian Teachers Overseas in Trinadad and Tobago.

I was asked to get a defunct program for children with autism going two weeks into my retirement. Within two years, the school was flourishing with 20 students and families moving from Vancouver to take advantage of the programme for their children. The school continues to grow but I am now only involved with organizing the Centre's international conferences. I am at the end of my first term as School Trustee and will probably run for a second term.

Family wise, I have been married to my Norwegian wife Gine, for 40 years. We have three children, Martin, a film animator who teaches animation at Emily Carr in Vancouver, Nick, a geological engineer who is an associate of an engineering consulting firm in North Vancouver, and Sarah, who works for the YMCA in early childhood education here in Kamloops. Between them, they have given us 5 grand children."

We congratulate and salute Chris for this great achievement and are proud to see an OP do so well in life.

Chris can be contacted at Chris Rose <chris_rose@telus.net>

The Centre's web site is at http://www.crtcforautism.com