At first, it appears that Jeanette Lesada, a 37-year-old artist and writer, and 14-year-old Matthew Lancelle has little in common. Lesada is a professional graphic designer and Lancelle is a freshman at Whitefish Bay High School, but over the past seven years, the two cultivated a solid friendship and successful working relationship.

Originally, Lesada was assigned to work with Lancelle through her job at the Wisconsin Early Autism Program (WEAP). However, when Lesada's position was cut due to a funding shortage, Lesada knew she had a promising relationship with Lancelle and decided to continue working with him as a volunteer.

For two hours every Sunday, Lesada, who lives in Shorewood, spends time with Lancelle in his Whitefish Bay home. For years, the two spent their time together drawing pictures about a particular topic in sketchbooks.  Lancelle's drawings of monsters and sea creatures offered an alternative mode of communication for him, and before long, Lesada saw great potential in their art.

Inspired by the relationship and the sketches, Lesada compiled a book called "Sundays with Matthew." In 2006, the Autism Asperger Publishing Company published the book, requiring Lesada and Lancelle to make numerous public appearances to promote their book.

"It was a great experience for both of us," says Lesada.

Lesada says Lancelle's attention span continues to lengthen and his behavior struggles have improved greatly. She says spending time with Lancelle has positively affected her life, too.

"I get to see the world through Matthew's perspective," she says. 

Today, Lesada and Lancelle are working on writing skills which might lead to a new book. If there is another book, Lesada hopes Lancelle will participate more in the writing process, so Sunday mornings are dedicated to working on sentence structure and communicating ideas through written words. Instead of sketch journals, they keep writing journals.

"This is more challenging than drawing together, because writing really requires him to think something through," says Lesada. "It might take 45 minutes for him to write eight sentences, but it's always worth it."

Lesada says Lancelle shares her love for films and she sees the two of them possibly writing a screenplay together, too. Lesada is currently writing a screenplay of her own.

"This week, we started reading the screenplay for 'The Princess Bride" together, and Matthew was great. He read the characters with different voices and was really into it," says Lesada.

According to Easter Seals statistics, there was a 200 percent increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism in the last 10 years, making autism more prevalent in kids than Down syndrome, childhood diabetes and cancer combined.

There is no cure for autism, and children do not outgrow it, however, early intervention helps the child develop to their full potential.

Lesada says she and her husband chose art over children, so working with Lancelle allows her to experience a child without parenting one.

"We decided we could make a greater contribution to the world through art, rather than children," says Lesada. 

Lesada says someday she might become a foster mother, but for now, she is fulfilled by her full-time job, various art and writing projects, her relationship with her husband and spending her Sundays with Lancelle.

"We really have a lot in common," she says. "Matthew's a good friend."