OCEAN CITY, MD. - It was surfs up on Wednesday as the Surfer's Healing Camp hit the waves in Ocean City.
The camp gives the opportunity for children with autism, and other developmental disabilities, to learn how to surf with professionals.
The Surfers Healing camp started in 1996, and is held coast-to-coast from June through September. The camp also has international dates outside of that time frame.
All of the surfers are hand-picked by the camp's founder, Israel Paskowitz. One of those surfers, Mikey O'Shaughnessy, told WBOC how he thinks the camp is therapeutic for the kids.
"This is kind of where I find purpose," O'Shaughnessy said. "With these kids and the families, and this group of people that I work with. They're some of the nicest people on Earth."
One of those families are the Jensens. They've been coming to the Ocean City leg of the camp since 2011.
"It was amazing," Beth Jensen said. "We all loved it, there were lots of tears, it was just an amazing experience."
Jensen said that her son's diagnosis came with a lot of 'you can'ts' - and that this camp finally felt like a 'you can'.
"It changed the perspective for me," Jensen said. "So, instead of sitting there worried about what was going to happen to him in life or what things we were going to struggle with in life, I realized that's not the case."
Her son, James, told WBOC that the camp helped him overcome his fear of the water.
"Now I can surf without, like, being scared," James said.
The daylong camp is visiting Virginia Beach as it's next stop on Friday.
Those interested in learning about the camp can find more information through the camp's website.