History and Mission

The Faison School for Autism (TFSA) was established in 1999 by Markel Chairman Alan Kirshner and Flo Guzman to serve children with autism. At 18 months, their own granddaughter Brittany Faison was diagnosed with autism. Kirshner and Guzman founded the school in hopes of serving Brittany and other children like her utilizing the best teachers, resources, and research available. The Faison School began with just four preschool age students who worked daily with an autism specialist. A partnership developed with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Psychiatry, and the school took shape as both a treatment center and a behavioral research laboratory under the auspices of the Autism Center of Virginia.

Our mission:
The Faison School for Autism/ACV is dedicated to giving each child the best chance he or she has to improve their life’s journey. The School employs a three-pronged approach of empirically-driven treatment, research, and training to best serve our students. Our philosophy is a holistic one, focusing on the child, their family, and all those who touch and enrich their lives.

The Faison School’s three-pronged approach is our greatest strength. Treatment takes place at the school which became licensed as a private day school by the State Department of Education in 2002 and obtained nonprofit status in 2003. An off-site program was also established to serve families and children with autism in their own homes. With demand continually increasing, The Faison School inaugurated its first Summer Program in 2004 and expanded the curriculum to include school-age children. Today, the school serves students ages 18 months to 22 years with our on-site and off-site programs utilizing the evidence based principles of applied behavior analysis.

Research is accomplished at the school and through our registry. It is also conducted in conjunction with the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, a world leader in genetic studies on psychiatric illness and behavior, and the Virginia Division of Child Psychiatry, a national leader in child and adolescent psychiatric services.

Education for teachers, medical professionals and the public is developed at The Faison School and implemented through VCU, Richmond area public schools and in the community.