Autism Speaks has sponsored a special campaign to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day Thursday. April is National Autism Awareness Month.

Gramps convenience store in Yankton will be celebrating the day. Along with the gas station, landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House and Egypt's Great Pyramid will also be decorated with blue lights.

Throughout the month, Gramps will sell homemade bars made by Judy Lane. The annual event highlights the problem which is becoming a growing global health crisis. It also raises awareness about the needed of having education, early diagnosis and early intervention.

"The puzzle piece symbolizes autism being such a puzzling disease. Everybody is different in the spectrum because no two cases are the same. It is the perfect symbol for the disease", said Lane.

As per the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around one in 68 American children are on the autism spectrum, which is a 10-fold increase in prevalence in 40 years. As per studies, autism is four to five times more common among boys than girls.

As per an estimate, 1 out of 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States.