• Turning a Guinness World Record attempt into a nationwide conversation on autism, art, and inclusion

Sri Lanka officially set a unique record last week (16 May) when Merak 2026 officially secured the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest sensory board. 

This achievement, a 60-metre installation made up of 260 individual sensory boards, was powered by one cause – autism awareness. It was spearheaded by Psychology, Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), Sensory Processing, and Special Needs Education Specialist Dr. Anton James. 

For Dr. James, who is also Founder and Director of The Tree House International, Sri Lanka’s first and only international school dedicated to children with special needs, the road to setting this Guinness World Record began when he saw the lack of meaningful autism awareness initiatives in Sri Lanka. 

“I left Sri Lanka 30 years ago, and when I came back I found that the public’s understanding of autism hadn’t changed much over the years,” Dr. James explained. “I went to an autism awareness event and found the traditional awareness event was people coming together, lighting a candle, and having a performance. The message was not going to the people who needed to hear it.”

This realisation led Dr. James to set up Merak – a charity for autism awareness, and what would eventually evolve into one of the most ambitious autism awareness projects Sri Lanka has seen, combining art, sustainability, community outreach, and a Guinness World Record into a single nationwide initiative. 

But the story behind Merak is also deeply connected to Dr. James’s own life, his experience with autism, and his belief that awareness cannot remain confined to annual symbolic gestures. “For me, this was more about breaking the silence than breaking a record,” Dr. James said.

A different way of seeing the world

Dr. James describes autism in straightforward terms. “I see autism as the brain working differently from those who are typically developed,” he shared. “That atypical development of the brain affects how you communicate, how you see the world through your senses, how you think, and certain behaviours that can be atypical.”

For many people, sensory processing differences remain one of the least understood aspects of autism. Dr. James explained that sensory information which felt ordinary to one person may feel overwhelming, painful, or intensely stimulating to an autistic individual. “Some sensory information is painful or overwhelmingly makes you happy. These are often invisible.”

That understanding sits at the centre of the Merak sensory boards. Traditionally, sensory boards are tactile surfaces designed for autistic children to touch, interact with, and use for sensory regulation. Dr. James noted that they were often confused with Montessori ‘busy boards,’ but pointed out that the purpose was different. “Sensory boards are meant for autistic children to touch and feel regulated and also learn through tactile sensation. Most people use sensory boards to calm themselves.”

The installation created for Merak took that concept and expanded it into something far larger and more artistic. Recycled plastic, sequins, tactile fabrics, bolts, zips, and sensory materials were combined with artwork and storytelling, transforming the boards from simple therapeutic tools into public conversation pieces.

Before Merak became a public movement, however, Dr. James’s understanding of sensory experiences came from his own childhood. 

“When I was younger, I remember sitting at the back of the class because lots of noise would bother me,” Dr. James recalled. “I then moved to a Catholic school which was very strict about noise. Then I moved to the front. I still had to change schools many times. By Grade 8, the pressure became harder to manage. Academic challenges became more demanding. Slight noise became too much for me to bear,” Dr. James said. 

He eventually began studying at home independently and without teachers, completing his GCSEs early with exceptional results. But at the same time, he was experiencing severe headaches that doctors struggled to explain.

The first breakthrough in understanding his condition came after moving to Canada in the mid-1990s. “The sunlight was low and autumn was starting. The headaches were gone,” Dr. James said. Then winter arrived, bringing a different sensory issue. “I remember wearing wool, which was poking me. There were lots of complaints I had made that were sensory, but I hadn’t seen them as sensory. I saw them as problems.”

When the headaches returned months later, a doctor suggested sunglasses. “Honestly, I thought it was crazy,” Dr. James said with a laugh. “But it helped immediately.”

Eventually, he was referred to an autism specialist and diagnosed under what was then classified as Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), a condition which was later folded into Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He remembers asking what treatment existed. “The doctor said there’s nothing you can do.”

Instead of accepting that answer, Dr. James chose a different direction. He specialised in Applied Behaviour Analysis, later becoming one of the first people from a Sri Lankan background to pursue advanced training in the field. “I decided I wanted to come back here and open a school,” Dr. James said.

Building something bigger than awareness

The Tree House International grew from that vision. Today, the school works with autistic children from Sri Lanka and abroad, while also training professionals and advocating for evidence-based autism support.

Dr. James said one of the biggest problems in Sri Lanka remained the misconceptions that surrounded autism. “Some people confuse intellectual disability with autism. Some confuse autism and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and think they’re the same thing,” Dr. James said. “Some think all autistic people cannot speak. Others think they’re all extremely smart and talented. Autism is not like that.”

He is especially critical of approaches that frame autism as something to ‘fix’. “Parents panic and think: ‘How do I make my child normal?’” Dr. James said. “There is no cure for autism. The objective is not to make them normal. It is to make them independent.”

He also pointed to the culture of guilt many parents experience. “Some professionals blame parents for autism,” Dr. James said. “They say it’s because of too much screen time or because of parenting methods, making parents feel guilty and ashamed. That won’t solve the problem.”

For Dr. James, meaningful awareness has to move beyond social media campaigns and symbolic observances. “When it comes to Autism Awareness Day in April, once a year people join together, light candles, have an event, and go back to normal life,” Dr. James said. “That’s why I made Merak.”

The name itself carries significance. Merak is a Serbian word without a direct English translation, loosely referring to finding joy in simple things. Dr. James felt the word reflected the sensory experiences many autistic children connected with deeply. “Children with autism get great pleasure from simple things,” Dr. James explained. “Something as simple as holding a stone or a leaf in their hand.”

The project’s structure was carefully designed around reaching audiences traditional awareness campaigns often miss. Dr. James wanted three pathways. The first was the Guinness World Record itself. “There’s media hype around it,” he said. “People start to talk about it. They ask what a sensory board is. What autism is. The conversation starts.”

The second was sustainability. Last year, Merak organised beach clean-ups in Wellawatte, recycling collected ocean plastic into sensory elements for the boards. “Environmental societies joined us in the cause, which is not typical,” Dr. James said. The plastic and other waste collected during these clean-ups was then used in making the sensory boards for Merak 2026.

The third was art. “We wanted to tell the world a story about autism and the struggles you have as a person with autism,” Dr. James explained. “Traditionally, art was not part of sensory boards. Normally it’s random items attached. This is the first time in history we’ve attached art and made it part of a bigger installation.”

That decision changed the scale of public participation. Artists, schools, universities, and community groups from around Sri Lanka and the Maldives began contributing boards. Some arrived because they were interested in the art itself and encountered autism awareness along the way.

One moment in particular stayed with Dr. James. An artist visiting Tree House watched autistic children playing and asked why every child behaved differently. “I explained autism is a spectrum,” Dr. James said. The artist then described his four-year-old niece, mentioning typical signs of autism like hand flapping, lack of eye contact, and speech delays. “He said, ‘I’m involved in this project and I didn’t even know someone in my family had autism.’”

That, Dr. James said, was exactly the point. “When people take photos and share them and talk about it, the message spreads. The awareness grows outward like a ripple effect.”

The cost of building a movement

For all its artistic energy, Merak was also an enormous technical challenge. Since 2023, multiple record concepts were explored and ultimately rejected, including attempts such as the largest autism awareness flag by signatures and the highest number of sensory bottles created within an hour. 

Each rejection brought new insight, but also highlighted the stringent requirements that govern every record. In total, it has taken nearly two-and-a-half years to reach a viable, approved framework.

At the heart of every Guinness record attempt are five uncompromising principles: measurability, standardisability, verifiability, breakability, and a single measurable variable. For an initiative rooted in creativity and sensory diversity, translating these into a compliant format proved to be one of the project’s greatest challenges

“Sensory boards are very difficult to standardise,” Dr. James explained. “We spent 18 months with Guinness trying to standardise it. The process was extremely complicated.  And it cost a lot of money as well.” Half the cost was sponsored. The rest was borne by The Tree House International itself.

Every board had to meet strict guidelines while still allowing room for creativity. Independent observers were required to verify compliance. Documentation standards were intense.

Yet the project has already moved beyond the Guiness World Record itself. Some boards are being donated to organisations including Parliament, UNICEF, ministries, universities, and autism organisations abroad. Others will travel internationally as awareness pieces and fundraising tools.

But even after the Guinness recognition, Dr. James’s focus remains fixed on awareness itself. Not awareness as a slogan or annual campaign, but awareness that changes how communities think and respond.

“This is a conversation starter,” he said. “Not just a record breaker.”