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# How a Mumbai mother built a platform that turns neurodiverse artists' work into products
- URL: https://newsanek.com/how-a-mumbai-mother-built-a-platform-that-turns-neurodiverse-artists/
- Published: 2026-11-05T19:37:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-05T20:20:14.000Z
- Description: Shweta Runwal founded Tickle Your Art after noticing her daughter Dhriti was using drawing to communicate. The social enterprise now helps more than 25 neurodiverse artists turn their work into products, jobs and visibility.
- Author: Kumar Ujjwal
- Tags: Startup Story, Startups, #sub-startup-stories, #sub-business-stories, #national-desk

Years ago, a little girl came home from school with a diary. On one page, she had drawn two stick figures.

One of them was crying.

Her mother, Shweta Runwal, asked what had happened. Her daughter Dhriti tried to explain that her friend was moving away.

For Shweta, it was the first clear sign that art was how Dhriti could speak.

### Key points

- Dhriti Runwal has Down syndrome, and art became her way to express emotions.
- Shweta Runwal founded Tickle Your Art, a social enterprise based in Mumbai.
- The enterprise works with more than 25 neurodiverse artists.
- Their artwork becomes lifestyle products, books and corporate gifts.

## So where did it all begin?

Dhriti was diagnosed with Down syndrome a few days after she was born.

At two months old, doctors also found a hole in her heart and suggested surgery.

Shweta found that people often judged her daughter by her diagnosis.

Questions came up about whether Dhriti would walk, talk or have a career.

## What was the hardest part of that early road?

![A small clinic waiting room in India with worn wooden benches and a shadowed corridor, a parent's back visible at a distance.](https://newsanek.com/content/images/2026/11/how-a-mumbai-mother-built-a-platform-tha-scene-2.jpg)

AI illustration

Shweta says there were few places for parents to find information or meet other families.

The conversation focused on what children with intellectual disabilities might not be able to do.

Her own parents took a different view.

They told her to treat Dhriti like any other baby, and that trust became her biggest support.

## What changed the direction of the journey?

![A quiet studio table with brushes, colour swatches and a half-finished painting under warm lamplight, hands partly visible from the side.](https://newsanek.com/content/images/2026/11/how-a-mumbai-mother-built-a-platform-tha-scene-3.jpg)

AI illustration

Shweta had trained as an architect and had worked in London, where she saw how art and design could express ideas.

She began volunteering with the Down Syndrome Federation of India and met more families.

She wanted to ask a new question. What if the starting point was what these children could do?

That question led to the idea behind Tickle Your Art.

## Where does the story stand today?

![A bright workshop with stacked product boxes and framed artworks on shelves, a worker's back visible at a distance.](https://newsanek.com/content/images/2026/11/how-a-mumbai-mother-built-a-platform-tha-scene-4.jpg)

AI illustration

Today, Tickle Your Art works with more than 25 artists with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities.

It turns their original artwork into lifestyle products, books, corporate gifts and more.

Tickle Your Art sells neurodiverse artists' work

**More than 25**Artists with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities

**2 months**Age when doctors found a hole in Dhriti's heart

Graphic: News Anek, from the facts in this report

For Shweta, the work is about visibility and independence.

It also began with one small drawing of two figures, and one mother who chose to listen.

The Better India first reported this journey.

Startup Story

### 3 lessons from this journey

1. Start with what a person can do, not what they cannot.
2. Notice how people communicate, even when words are limited.
3. Turn personal experience into a service that helps other families.

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### Sources

- [The Better India: ‘People Saw Her Diagnosis Before They Saw Her’: How a Mother Built a Platform for Artists With Disabilities](https://thebetterindia.com/startup/neurodiverse-artists-tickle-your-art-mom-entrepreneur-down-syndrome-kid-mumbai-startup-12742193?ref=newsanek.com)