You can be a part of the 40th Anniversary Special Olympics Southern California portrait! David Ilan is an internationally recognized pointillism artist, which means he draws using only dots. He is creating a drawing just for SOSC in which every single dot represents a real person. Athletes and supporters can join here for free and get a hand-drawn dot added to the portrait in their honor.

Ilan explains his work of art:

All dots are created equal and all people are created equal. The dots do not pay attention to a person's abilities or a person's challenges. The dots are all the same size and each one is vital to the finished portrait. Each dot individually tells a story of one person, but when the dots work together, that is when the drawing is formed and a purpose is achieved. In essence, people are working together to create a drawing. Participants feel like they are a part of a group - they are doing something important by joining; they are part of something bigger than them standing alone. It gives people a certain kind of strength knowing that they are important and necessary in the drawing. I don't add dots until people join. Every dot is in someone's name and if that person did not join, a dot would not have been added.

The first dot was placed on the canvas on March 27. The final dot will be placed during the Special Olympics Southern California Summer Games in June.

Everyone is welcome to join. Get your dot now.

To see samples of David Ilan's pointillism work, please visit www.DavidIlan.com