Sabrina spent her career creating safe containers for young people's big feelings through theater — including a production called SECRETS that addressed the AIDS crisis for teenagers in the 1980s when almost nobody else was willing to. This conversation is about what that work looked like, why it mattered, and what the arts do for people who feel everything.

It's also about what it means to have one person in your life who has known you for 45 years and never once told you that you were too much.

ABOUT SABRINA

Sabrina holds a PhD in Theatre from UC Berkeley and spent her career as an arts educator and theater director in the San Francisco Bay Area. She created educational theater productions for Kaiser Permanente including SECRETS and Nightmare on Puberty Street — work that used the stage to address the things nobody else was saying to young people. She is Vicki's chosen family.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need it.

Hat on a Hat on a Hat (Substack): https://ahatonahatonahat.substack.com/

Donations are gratefully accepted and help keep this show going at whatever pace is sustainable.

Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/vickipeterson

✍️ Subscribe now to hear future episodes.

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

🌐 Learn more about the network at AutisticCulturePodcastNetwork.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vicki is a screenwriter, educator, late-diagnosed autistic person, and recovering perfectionist living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and its many comorbidities. This episode is her origin story — the Hollywood years, the diagnoses, the collapse, the grief, and the decision to rebuild. Out loud. Imperfectly. On generator power.

It's also a note on process: why this show uses scripted monologues alongside interviews, why AI tools are part of the workflow, and why the best this host can do today is enough.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Lindsey Mackereth — therapist, researcher, and founder of the neurocomplexity framework. The term "neuro complex" comes from her work.

Lindsey's Substack: https://lindseymackereth.substack.com/

The Ehlers-Danlos Society — for more information on EDS and its comorbidities:

EDS Society: https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/

Hat on a Hat on a Hat (Substack): https://ahatonahatonahat.substack.com/

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need it.

Hat on a Hat on a Hat (Substack): https://ahatonahatonahat.substack.com/

Donations are gratefully accepted and help keep this show going at whatever pace is sustainable.

Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/vickipeterson

✍️ Subscribe now to hear future episodes.

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

🌐 Learn more about the network at AutisticCulturePodcastNetwork.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Neurocomplex Creative, a podcast exploring creativity, burnout, recovery, and the realities of making art when your brain and body don't always cooperate. Part of the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.

Hosted by Vicki Peterson—screenwriter, educator, late-diagnosed autistic person, and proud everything bagel—the series is a living record of rebuilding a creative life after burnout and finding sustainable ways to create. Through honest conversations with writers, artists, educators, and other creatives, The Neurocomplex Creative explores accommodation, inspiration, creative practice, and what it means to keep making things when the traditional advice no longer works.

✍️Subscribe now to hear future episodes.

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

🌐 Learn more about the network at AutisticCulturePodcastNetwork.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.