Our mission & our story

Everyone has Kwirkz!

Kwirkz is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2019 to connect the special needs community to the people, programs and places that make real life navigable. We host social and professional networking events, and we build the connective tissue between families and the resources already around them.

A crowd of roughly fifty Kwirkz participants, families and volunteers standing together outdoors with their arms raised, in front of a Kwirkz canopy and a banner reading Everyone has them!, with a food truck and string lights behind them.
This is the community. Families, participants and volunteers celebrating together at Kick it for Kwirkz in Hope Mills. Everyone has them!

Our mission

To better connect the special needs community to social and professional networking opportunities.

Our vision

To cultivate opportunities for the special needs community in local communities around the USA.

About us

It started with two brothers.

Kwirkz was established in 2019 with a straightforward goal: unite people, resources and shared interests to serve individuals with special needs.

Founder Ryan Cretens started the organization for his brother Tyler, who is on the autism spectrum. Ryan grew up watching Tyler bring so much to every room that welcomed him, and set out to create more of those rooms, for Tyler and for every family like theirs.

Kwirkz began as events: social nights, networking, and gatherings where the accommodation is built in from the start. Along the way we met family after family looking for the same things: the right program, the right employer, the right group, and a trusted way to find them.

That is our work today: connecting the special needs community to the people, programs and places around them, across the five areas that shape an adult life. We would love to have you along.

Founded2019 Status501(c)(3) non-profit EIN87-1423716 Programs atThe Hive, Hope Mills, NC
Three people sitting close together on a porch step, all wearing blue Kwirkz caps, with a golden retriever puppy resting across their laps. The person on the left wears a yellow Kwirkz t-shirt.
Where it started. A family, at home, dreaming up a community where everyone belongs.

Be part of what comes next.

We're building a virtual hub on top of the community we've spent years building in person. Free to join, and made for the long road of real life.

Join the waitlist →