From Trail Creek Road, Erik’s Ranch looks like many of the western-style mansions in the Paradise Valley. The sprawling main house sits above a terraced lawn and an enclosed walkway stretches to a pool house with exposed log rafters.
But there’s more to the 7,500-square-foot home than white marble staircases and dining sets upholstered with fawn hides. Erik’s Ranch and Retreats is a nonprofit organization providing young adults on the autism spectrum with a place to thrive.
The ranch is named for Erik Nordberg, the son of Kathryn Nordberg, who started the organization after finding the existing options for her autistic child inadequate as he entered adulthood.
“As your child starts to get older you think what’s going to happen when I’m gone,” Kathryn Nordberg said. “Every parent of a child with special needs thinks about that.”
