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What were you doing when you were 12? Maybe honing your angry pre-teen demeanor, or filling out a slam book? Important stuff like that?
Well, one 12-year-old is putting the rest of us to shame -- Cooper Berella of Northridge recently curated his second show for the Munky King Gallery on Melrose, around a theme of preventing bullying and cyberbullying.
The Daily News reports that Berella, a lifelong artist and art aficionado, secured about 100 artists from across the globe to participate in his show, which opened on September 10. Many agreed to participate because of Berella's enthusiasm and talent:
Artist Misha, whose paintings are a fusion of anime and tattoo design, said she, like many others, signed on simply because Cooper asked them to. "How can you tell him `no'?" she asked. "That kid is awesome - he's like a superfan."
Berella, who was diagnosed with autism at a young age but shows few signs of the disorder as he gets older, attends school at the CHIME Institute.