A mother of an autistic daughter, Ma Chen has been running her Carnation Autism Therapeutic Center in Hangzhou for 10 years. She has earned nothing, but paid out more than 4 million yuan (US$655,921) to maintain the center. She might, however, lose it because of financial difficulties.

This 41-year-old woman established the therapeutic center in 2003, when her daughter Miaomiao was confirmed as having autism.

To keep the center running, she has used her savings, sold two apartments belonging to her family, and even mortgaged an apartment of her parents-in-law last year. Ma used to work as a sonar engineer, and her husband is also an engineer.

The last financial straw came sooner than she thought. After a renovation of a warehouse space to serve as the center’s new facilities cost her 2 million yuan earlier this year, Ma has no money left to pay next year’s rent of about 500,000 yuan. She had to move from their previous location because the lease was not renewed, among other reasons.

“If the center gets closed, therapy for the kids will be stopped, and teachers trained to treat autistic kids will have to change jobs,” Ma says.

The center has 57 teachers, and serves 80 children from two to 16 years old. Classes include one-to-one training, art, music and living skills. Only a few teachers and parents been aware of the center’s difficulty as Ma has been reluctant to ask for help.

The center charges 3,800 yuan a month for each child’s eight-hour daily care or 2,000 yuan for four hours of care a day. But 20 percent of the parents are common workers and pay much less; usually a teacher can handle only one child at a time.

Considering all teachers are college graduates who studied related majors, “the tuition revenue just covers their salary,” says Ma.

There are three similar centers in the city. One is part of the YMCA and gets help from the association and the other charges much more. But Ma says she will not raise the price to maintain the center. “My aim is to help, not to get.”

It was not the first time Ma and her Carnation center have had problems. In the past decade, the center changed locations eight times, sought a license from government unsuccessfully for seven years, and lost about 200,000 yuan every year.

“That was my plan. To lose 200,000 yuan every year to run the center,” she says, adding that her family supports her.

Her determination comes from her personal experience.

In 2002, Ma became more and more aware that her two-year-old baby daughter acted differently from her peers. The toddler did not like to talk, repeated the same behavior and seldom looked into others’ eyes.

The mother took her baby to all the hospitals she could visit and saw many of doctors, yet did not get a clear answer. The country did not have much knowledge about autism yet.

The characters of autism include impairments in social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. Overt symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months, become established by age two or three, and tend to continue through adulthood.

When Ma, who is good at English, searched on English-language websites and found out her daughter had autism, a doctor asked her, “What is autism?” Unsurprisingly, there was nowhere for her daughter to be treated in the city then.

Only a year later did the girl, Miaomiao, have a definite diagnosis of autism in a newly opened clinic at Hangzhou No. 7 People’s Hospital, a mental hospital. But the clinic does not offer treatment.

The heartbroken mother turned to foreign experts by sending them e-mails, and one day she got a mail from the United States saying, “If you cannot find a treatment center in your city, then build one.”

“I saw hope,” she says. “And I think it is necessary for a city to have such a place to treat children like my daughter.”

The engineer gave up her job and started learning — first from the Internet, and then from experts she invited to visit Hangzhou to help her establish the center. The center has been visited by dozens of professionals from the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore and China’s Hong Kong and Taiwan.

When the center opened at the end of 2003, there were eight teachers and two students. One of the students is Ma’s daughter Miaomiao.

Now, over 1,000 kids have been treated at the center. Some went for months and some stayed for years.

One couple, American Greg Moore and his Chinese wife Shao Chenchen, have sent their five-year-old boy to the center for half a year, and Shao says they picked Carnation because of its professionalism, as shown by their philosophy of one teacher per student.

“My son gains more confidence, and has improved balance, after class due to treatment for sensory processing disorder, and classes of music and art,” Shao says.

Despite an increasing number of children enrolled, the center could not get a treatment license from government or be registered as a company because autism was unknown at the time.

“I never regret what I did. In the decade, the center has treated more than 1,000 kids. I believe the treatment has changed their lives. I am satisfied,” she says.

It was not until 2010 when autism was recognized as a mental disability by the Chinese government, that Ma was able to get her center registered. Today Carnation Center is monitored by the Hangzhou Disabled Peoples Federation and Shangcheng District Disabled Peoples Federation.

The two federations cover one-10th of the center’s annual rent and provide a subsidy to the center every year. All autistic kids in the city also receive a 1,000-yuan subsidy per month from the federations. This year the center has received a total of 218,000 yuan in subsidies.

Help from others is coming as well. Moore, director of Men’s Fellowship of the Hangzhou International Christian Fellowship, offered help by raising money and awareness via his organization. He is trying to set up an exhibit to sell art and donate money to the center.

“We see the light coming,” says volunteer Shan Shulin. Shan, a retired executive from a state-owned company, helps manage the center.

But right as things were looking up, the over-budget renovation that made their 2,000-square-meter warehouse space into a neat and serviceable therapeutic center took the last of Ma’s savings. Ma, who “had little experience with renovation” but an ambition to “make the center as good as other kindergartens,” is now broke.

The new campus on Shiqiao Road in the northern part of Hangzhou now has been transformed into a space with a dozen classrooms, a canteen and a playground featuring wall paintings and outdoor recreational facilities.

“She is bad at business,” volunteer Shan says. “But as long as we overcome the current difficulty, things will be better, due to the increase of students, support from the government, and more attention to autism from society.”

Ma says: “We thought of all the ways we could think of, and could not fix the problem. Now we can only ask for help from society.”

Anyone willing to help can contact Ma Chen at 1359055510@qq.com.