(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) ♪ Hey ♪ - Coming up this week, we'll feature a helper that's not only a helper.

He's a best friend.

Right, Tibbs?

(peaceful music) - I don't know.

We're not really spooked by different types of behaviors and things like that just because, you know, you can't control where you're from and how you're formed.

- In the early 1950s, Dr. Roland Van Zandt heard about it, collected the parts.

Him and some other Bradley professors started up the Peoria Astronomical Society and worked with the Peoria Park District and had this building built.

(peaceful music continues) - I don't know how to describe it.

It was just amazing.

I was always excited every Thursday.

I'd be like, "Today's Wednesday.

I can't wait."

(peaceful music continues) - Just seeing the things that these people are able to do now, and there's so many things that they accomplish after they get a dog is really cool.

(peaceful music continues) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Lines are often drawn in our lives that change our path.

Three years ago, Jennifer Rosa and her husband Scott Hinkley took the negativity their girls Larkin and Willa were experiencing from being excluded due to autism, and drew a new route that led them directly into a family business.

That business was a neurodiverse art shop made by kids called Pretendly.

(upbeat music continues) - The girls always wanted to have their own art shop, like when they grew up, but then they experienced this exclusion, that when they felt that loss, we said, "Okay, we have to find the gain," and the thing that kind of distracted them and got them to bounce back out of that hurt was to start this art shop now instead of when they're grown, and so Mommy and Daddy, we have a music business background, not a visual art background.

So we had to use kind of what we know in our grown-up business mind and maybe put it together.

- [Narrator] Fifth-grader Larkin is a 10-year-old artist/businesswoman who has her own style.

- Now, here is the second doll I ever made, the Galactica, and she is based off the end of 2000s fashion for the beach, and she is an alien cyborg, and she has a gem, which really makes her pop.

- So that's very much her, a very kind person.

We also have Willa, who, growing up, would say she's Chilla Willa.

She's so calm, you know?

But now, like, she's really come into her own because she loves animals, and I think she has an empathy chip in her just by osmosis of being in this environment and us all going to different therapies and being in different environments, but, together, I think they have a get-it-ness, where it's just they're not, I don't know, we're not really spooked by different types of behaviors and things like that, just because, you know, you can't control where you're from and how you're formed.

- [Narrator] Wearing their own Pretendly original creations, Willa and Larkin showed me their artwork in all its forms.

Whether it was on clothing, custom dolls, or framed artwork, each was uniquely their own creation.

- We're really fortunate, and I think a lot of families will find that your kid has a special interest, and just sort of tapping into it, and it might not necessarily even be your special interest or even something you're good at, but you might have something that you are good at that can be plugged into it.

I know that I'll only be able to take them as far as what I know, and then what I'm willing to learn, which is a lot, 'cause I think we're elastic.

With Larkin, you'll get a lot of faces, and I think when she sees a picture in her mind, she has to create it, and she has this complete holistic idea of what it is, and then with Willa, she has a fun process to watch because she'll start and then she erases and then she starts, and then it goes somewhere else.

- [Narrator] They may be a family, but the business has added an interesting dynamic.

- A neurodiverse art shop, and it's made by me and Willa.

You're sort of the boss.

- I am the boss.

- [Julie] Oh, you're the boss over your mom and dad too?

- Yep.

- I'm not sure that's how it works.

- Yep, it is.

- And now our bosses being our kids, I mean that's kind of... (upbeat music continues) The little part is that they're young, so they are now 10 and 8, but the thing is, they're very sisterly, right?

Like, they bond and they also butt heads, and that's the good thing about it.

- [Julie] So you guys are sisters?

- Uh-huh.

- I have a sister, and sometimes we love each other so much and sometimes we fight.

Do you guys do that?

- Mm, sorta.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Say yeah.

- It's sorta or maybe.

- No, it's yeah.

- [Narrator] These girls continue to use their artwork to express themselves.

- So when I was in first grade, Willa told me that she had an imaginary friend named Tree Branch, and I thought it was a real person.

- I thought it was a real...

I was trying to trick her that it was a real story, so then she just drew a whole book about it.

- So that's when we created the website and that's how it kind of was born, and then this idea of them wanting to give people art all the time, it was able to be something that we told them, "Well, now, more people can see it, 'cause now it's online."

I ask them all the time, I said, "If you wanna stop tomorrow, we will."

I mean, this was really just sort of an exercise in learning how to be resilient, right?

And just bounce back.

So, if you wanna stop bouncing, we could, but they so far want to keep doing it, right?

And so I think what it is now is just growing what it already is, which is they've done little art exhibits here and there in the community.

The whole idea of "spread the friendly with Pretendly," I mean, that's kind of a contagious idea already.

- [Julie] What do you wanna do when you grow up?

Do you know?

- I think I can continue Pretendly and pass it down to my kids.

- I would do a lot of things.

I would be a vet and I would do a business and I would, I don't know.

- [Narrator] Look out, world, because the Pretendly girls may just be the people to make some big changes, one art project at a time.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) Northmoor Observatory is a hidden gem tucked inside Donovan Park and has been part of the City of Peoria since 1955.

Daniel Son of the Peoria Astronomical Society says most people have no idea that this historical telescope is in their own backyard.

- The other that surprises me, but doesn't surprise me, is "I never knew this was here.

How long's it been here?"

And so when you tell 'em, they're kind of surprised.

- [Narrator] It was the first observatory in Illinois to open its doors to the public, and it's still welcoming visitors today.

The telescope was built back in 1913 for the Illinois Watch Company in Springfield.

Its nine-inch refractor lens was crafted by the famous Petitdidier, a skilled optician who crafted lenses for the renowned experiment that first measured the speed of light.

- People don't realize, you know, we hear a lot about the European watches.

Actually, for the United States, with all their trains, they needed watches that were right on the mark, 'cause the train lines ran so tight scheduled, and Springfield Watch Company was, I believe, the only watch company that the United States actually allowed to be used because they were so accurate, and they used the scope for timing.

I believe it was one of the planets, Jupiter, when it went across the meridian, they could actually time it and knew exactly this is the time it is right now.

- [Narrator] The Illinois Watch Company was bought out by Hamilton Watch Company, and when they closed, they donated the telescope to Bradley University.

- It was a watchmaker, and it taught people how to build and repair watches, and when Hamilton went out, they thought Bradley would be a good place for the scope to end up, and Bradley took it and took it apart and hid it amongst the buildings, but I've heard that, actually, the parts of it were found in closets and whatnot.

In the early 1950s, Dr. Roland Van Zandt heard about it, collected the parts, and he was an engineer at Bradley, and him and some other Bradley professors started up the Peoria Astronomical Society and worked with the Peoria Park District and had this building built when this was all corn fields around here.

- [Narrator] The rest of this story is written in the stars.

(gentle music continues) - It's a very long scope.

It's great for planets, and that's basically what it was used for, and that's what we use it out here for is to planet observe, because the high focal length, you can really get it on Jupiter and Saturn, which people love and see a lot of great detail.

It's something different, unique, and kind of little bit of a hunter-seeker.

I don't have go-to capability on my scope, so it's a search and find, seek and find, "Where's Waldo" kind of effect, and I just think it's beautiful, the things you can see, - [Narrator] Almost 800 people visit the telescope each season and are always amazed with the star-gazing.

- It's like the fireworks.

It really is a, it's a wow.

They really do, like, ah, cool, that kind of excitement, not realizing, it's like, "Oh, that's just like the picture, and I can look through this eyepiece and see it."

- [Narrator] There are even surprises for seasoned astronomers.

- And Jupiter has a lot of moons, and the Great Red Spot.

So Jupiter was turning and the Great Red Spot was appearing, and all of a sudden, one of the moons came around and you could see the shadow, and you'll see the eclipsing shadow on Jupiter.

You'll see a dark spot, and then all of a sudden, a second one came up, and when it was at its perfect moment, you had Jupiter, you had the red bands of Jupiter, the Great Storm Red Spot was at the bottom, and the two eclipsing shadows looked like little eyeballs.

It looked like a little face.

So I remember that one and still talk about that.

- [Narrator] The Peoria Astronomical Society is always looking for new members.

- Well, and when new members join up, he calls every one of them and chit-chats, letting them know what's available, what they can do, what we can do for them, and see what their interests are and how to get 'em more involved in that interest and guide 'em along.

So I think that's part of it.

Just like any group, you want to encourage what you love for the next generation.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - This is the Smalltown Circus Center.

(upbeat music continues ) So I was born with Bertolotti's syndrome, and I didn't know I had it until I was like 18 or 19.

It's when your L5, which is your bottom vertebrae, is enlarged and trying to fuse to your pelvis.

So I was having troubles even walking across the road, and I found a silks class and it helped, and then the pandemic hit.

There was nowhere in this area to do anything, and I called up Walker's American Martial Arts because he was a family friend, and I was like, "Hey, can I rig my silks in your weight room?"

And he was like, "Yeah, how do you rig silks?"

(Sabrina chuckles) After a while, he was like, "Hey, you should start a program for toddlers."

And I was like, "I don't know if that's what I wanna start with."

So I started with aerial classes instead, but then we kept on going and going and going, and now we have classes for ages one and up.

(upbeat music continues) A lot of people, whenever I started the business, were like, "Yeah, that's not gonna take off," and that kind of inspired the name of the Smalltown Circus a little bit because we were like, "Oh, okay, well, we're gonna pull in all these small towns and we're gonna make a circus that gives access to these kids for these programs," because there's nothing in this area that does a circus program.

So I really wanted to offer that, and after we got going and people saw me doing it, then they were like, "Oh, can you teach us?"

And it started lifting off the ground a little bit.

The tots, they focus on aerial and tumbling, and then we have specifically tumbling classes and we have aerial classes.

The aerial class, it's easier to start with aerial hammock to gain strength and/or aerial hoop.

Aerial silks is definitely the hardest class that we offer.

This is the aerial hoop.

It's also called aerial lyra.

This is aerial silks.

It's also called aerial ribbons.

You climb up it and you can do tricks, and then we also have our circus classes and those are any level as well.

This is the German Cyr wheel.

It's also called a German wheel for short.

You get in it and you can do a bunch of tricks.

You can also do partner tricks.

Yeah, you roll and flip around and it's pretty cool.

(Sabrina chuckles) We have contortion and flexibility, and we also have our new circus class.

- I actually take a couple of classes here.

I started out in the adult aerial hammock class.

I started on that because my daughter was doing classes here and then she joined the competitive team the first year they did it and she loved it, and I was like, "You know what?

I think I might be able to do some of this stuff."

Like, it looked really fun.

- It's very easy to start off with, and then once you've been here for a while, you'll have a lot of more muscles and it'll just get more fun the longer you've been here.

- I don't know how to describe it.

It was just amazing.

I was always excited.

Every Thursday, I'd be like, "Today's Wednesday.

I can't wait."

- It's safe.

I don't feel like I'm gonna fall.

I don't feel like there's any danger of me getting hurt here or anything like that.

(upbeat music continues) - So we try to make our kids kind and teach them how to lead, teach them how to be responsible, respectful.

We try to keep the motivation and the energy really high in the gym.

So we make a lot out of very small things.

Whenever they've been working on something that they haven't gotten right away, our parents cheer.

I cheer.

I'm sitting on the floor or standing on the floor, clapping and screaming "good job" at them.

(group applauds) Yeah!

Now the other one.

Yeah!

(group applauds) Yeah!

Keep going!

We have a competition and performance team.

This year, we had 10 kids join.

We had two kids who placed first this year, two kids that placed second, and one that placed third.

All 10 of our girls competed, and one student even brought two routines to the competition.

Each kid gets a specially made and choreographed routine for their skill level.

- This year, I competed in two routines, but it's really fun because even when you're not on a team with people, you already get to know them, and once you're on a team with people, you get to know them way better and it's really fun.

(upbeat music continues) - And you don't have to have any experience to do this.

Literally, like, it's work at your own pace.

As quick as you can learn, you can go, but you won't move on until you know something and you're comfortable with it and the coach is comfortable with you with it and you walk through it every step of the way.

- It's really nice, and you can be more like yourself, and it's really amazing and you can make lots of friends.

- All these kids wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't for us, and it's grown so much.

Like, we started with like two panel mats, a silk, and a lyra, and it's just gotten way bigger.

Like, we're filling a whole space now.

(Sabrina chuckles) (upbeat music continues) - [Group] Kira, Kira, Kira, Kira, Kira!

(group cheers) (gentle music) - My name's Michelle Yuen, and I'm with Paws Giving Independence, and this is Lucy and she is one of our facility dogs.

- I am Kasie and this is my best friend Tibbs.

(gentle music continues) - I'm one of the founders of Paws Giving Independence.

So, Brandi, Donna and I and a friend co-founded the organization in 2008, and we started the program here.

We worked with a program up in the Chicagoland area initially training service dogs and then we would volunteer and bring them back to the Chicagoland area for placement.

- And I started volunteering with her.

We were college roommates, so at that time, and we were both originally from near the same area.

There wasn't anything in the surrounding central Illinois area that we knew of at that time, so we thought that starting it here could be a good benefit.

- Initially, we kind of were naive college students at that point, thinking, you know, "How hard is it to start a nonprofit?"

So we actually worked through the Bradley Springboard Competition.

- We started with that Springboard Competition.

They won third place, and we got a $5,000 donation, which was huge.

It helped us to cover the vet costs.

- We started out only having one dog in the program, and then Bradley allowed us to have some training space for us to train there.

So Bradley was really a key part in helping us start this organization.

(gentle music continues) - We are an all-volunteer organization, and are just very fortunate to have people in the Peoria community, businesses, churches, help us along the way so that we can keep this going, and we cover the costs of all the service dogs and training, the vet costs, and all the equipment that they need when they're placed.

If you go online and you try to get a service dog, they can be $10,000, $15,000, $20,000.

What we're doing right now is they live with a puppy raiser.

It might be at ISU or Bradley, or it might be in a community home, and then they go to the Logan Correctional Center and they spend about a year of training there, and then they come back to us for what we call transition training, and that means we've picked a recipient for them and the trainers are working with that recipient and their family to see, what do we need the response to be?

What additional skills do they need?

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - We were looking for sports and something to do.

I wanted to make friends and I wanted to get a service dog.

At first, I did not know I was getting a service dog.

I was really just going there to volunteer and help, but then they knew that me and Tibbs were just perfect together.

He gives me the strength and independence that I feel like I always want.

(gentle music continues) - So Kiwi is, she's about to turn five.

She's a Lab.

She is trained.

Well, she's a facility dog, so she's assigned to the courthouse in Peoria, and her job is to sit with, we have her sit with victims, child victims mostly.

If they have to testify in court or give a statement to police, she sits with them.

It's like a weighted blanket.

She'll pressure.

She'll lay on their lap, different things to calm them.

Our judges will allow her to be in court with them, so she can sit while they testify.

The biggest difference is it just, I mean, it just lowers people's anxiety levels.

She just makes everybody happy.

- It just makes me so happy, you know, because a service dog is really expensive, so when I found out about Tibbs and I thought, "Wow, this is just so amazing to have a service dog, and I don't have to pay all that money to get one."

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - When we sat around the kitchen table, the three of us 16 years ago, it was like, "Do we think we could do this?"

So we wouldn't still be doing this all these years later had it not been for the Peoria community helping us out.

- I think it's the community part of it.

Everyone, you get to see everybody working together.

There's so many different aspects that, from behind the scenes, people don't see.

- They help people do what they couldn't do before.

They make sure that they've done what...

They've made things possible.

I couldn't do half the things I can do now without someone with me at all times, and now I can be with Tibbs and do things by myself.

Tibbs helps me, and I feel like every person that can do things that they couldn't do before deserves to be able to do it.

(gentle music continues) - I love how we're always learning on "You Gotta See This," and right now, I'm gonna get back to star-gazing.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Thank you for joining us on this journey.

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We can't wait to see you next time on "You Gotta See This."

♪ Hey ♪ (lively music) (singer vocalizing) (lively music continues) ♪ Hey ♪ (lively music continues) (lively music continues) ♪ Hey ♪