30 | MARCH 25 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

O

n Jan. 6, 29-year-old West 
Bloomfield resident Sam Morris 
was overcome with sadness as he 
watched the television coverage of the attack 
on the U.S. Capitol.
This came after a year of the pandemic, 
which was hard on Morris, who has autism. 
In response, Morris has turned to creating 
artwork to express his sadness in the form 
of love. 
After watching the coverage, Morris sat 
down to draw to express his feelings on 
paper. The next day, on Jan. 7, his mother 
posted Sam’s drawing and a message on her 
Facebook page. 
“
After the events of yesterday, things felt 
so dark. Sam sat down to draw. He said that 
light can “penetrate the heart” and then the 
heart can shine. He calls it ‘HEARTSHINE.
’ 
Here’s to more heartshine in 2021!”
After the drawing was posted on 
Facebook, Morris read the reactions from 

his friends, saw that it made people feel bet-
ter, and thought about making a T-shirt.
Morris called Adam LaVoy of Royal Oak, 
who had worked with Morris at Friendship 
Circle’s Farber Soul Center in West 
Bloomfield, an art studio that encourages 
self-expression for adults with special needs. 
Morris remembered LaVoy had a dream 
of opening a business to put art on T-shirts, 
an idea he had for about a decade. Morris’ 
call was the impetus for LaVoy to finally cre-
ate and launch PeopleLoveArt.com, a brand 
and community celebrating the art of people 
with disabilities. 
LaVoy collaborated closely with Morris 
to perfect his artwork and ensure it would 
work well on a T-shirt. Soon after, the first 
Heartshine T-shirt was born.
Orders have already come in from 14 
states just by spreading the word on social 
media. 
Morris’ goals include seeing people wear-
ing his Heartshine wearables in all 50 states 
and to benefit the Anti-Defamation League. 
All proceeds after printing and shipping 
costs will be donated to the ADL. 
“Heartshine 2021 is about light that pen-
etrates through the heart to spread love all 
around the world,
” Morris said. “I really 
wanted to do this because I felt heartbroken 
after a difficult year of people dying from 
the pandemic, followed by a new year where 
weapons penetrated through windows at 
the Capitol in D.C. People fighting, breaking 
windows, trying to spread hate across our 
country.
“I want everyone to understand we 
are better people with many ways to let 
love shine,
” Morris continued. “Just like 
with a vaccine where a syringe penetrates 
through an arm to spread healing and build 
immunity in a body, rays of the sun pene-
trate through a heart to let it shine. I want 
Heartshine 2021 to provide a real warmth 
of light going through a real heart to spread 
love! I want to spread healing love instead of 

West Bloomfield man creates artistic 
T-shirts to help heal from tumultuous year.
Heartshine

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Let Your

“I WANT TO SPREAD 
HEALING LOVE 
INSTEAD OF HATE.”

— SAM MORRIS

Sam Morris’ original sketch of his Heartshine idea