New Perspectives

Chances are, Michael Powell won't become a millionaire through his new business painting light switch covers with Alaska themes, but he already is a role model for a lot of people.

Powell recently launched "Michael's Perspectives," which takes his love of art and uses it as a business. But Powell isn't your average small business owner. He is developmentally disabled, and he only has the use of his right arm.

But don't tell Powell he is limited by those disabilities. He is ambitious, outgoing and eager to make his business succeed, through the help of his team at Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults (MSSCA).

"Art makes me feel good," Powell explained. "I like oil painting, drawing. I do abstract paintings, surrealism and optical illusions. I can use my feelings in art, especially when I listen to classical music."

Carrie Waldron, a supported employment specialist at MSSCA, is part of a team of workers that has helped Powell.

"He was working at a local fast food restaurant for three years and wasn't going anywhere and wasn't happy," Waldron said. "He is very good at painting, so we decided to try to make this work.

"We've never had anybody establish their own business through our agency, so this is new for us," Waldron said. "We're trying to target things people are good at, and building around that -- like Mike and his art."

Waldron was working with a woman for about a year, trying to find a job she could enjoy and succeed at. The woman was into scrapbooking, and eventually found a job at a scrapbooking store.

"Matching those interests to employment is something we try to do. In Michael's case, that meant opening a business."

Powell isn't just painting light switch covers and relying on word of mouth to succeed, either.

He will be at the Wednesday market in Anchorage for nine weeks this summer, and in August, he will be designing a children's line of light switch covers.

Later this year, he will also be designing holiday pieces, and have them ready for the winter bazaar circuit.

In addition to the support at MSSCA, Powell also has plenty of social support from the community.

"Mike's met a lot of people through his involvement in Special Olympics and through church," said Mike Honner of MSSCA. "I was one of his first customers, and then internally here, people started buying them and giving them as gifts. He has already established himself."

Powell said he enjoys taking a hobby and applying it in the business world.

"Each one is unique and different" the soft-spoken Powell said. "I sketch them in my sketch book and then paint them on the covers."

For those ideas, Powell uses a digital camcorder. He is adept at high-end electronics such as the digital camcorder, and he zooms in on different scenes -- mountains, trees and other natural items -- and gets ideas from there. He and Waldron made a trip to Talkeetna last fall to get ideas there, too.

He also relies on his favorite artists -- Michelangelo, M.C. Escher, Salvador Dali and any artist that does surrealism -- to help him form ideas. He studies their work on the Internet, he said.

Powell also can replicate a customer's photo or painting on a light switch cover as a special order, he said.

While he masters the creative end of the business, his team at MSSCA is helping handle the paperwork end of the business.

They have helped Powell get a business license and become a member of Buy Alaska and Made in Alaska, and there are plans for a Web site and a customer newsletter.

Powell's success has become a model Waldron likes to hold high for others in Powell's situation.

"He has shown that he can do something just as good, if not better, than you or I can," Waldron said.