The Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA), based in Bayside, New York, United States, is a non-profit voluntary organization and the only national health-related organization serving people with Tourette syndrome. It was founded in 1972 by five couples, parents of children with Tourette syndrome including Bill and Eleanor Pearl, along with psychiatrist Arthur K. Shapiro and his wife, Elaine.
The TSA's mission is to identify the cause of, find the cure for and control the effects of Tourette Syndrome. It has 35 U.S. chapters, 300 support groups, and international contacts around the world.
The TSA "has been the major driving force in scientific and clinical progress relevant to TS", using its resources to encourage research and scientific initiatives, and working tirelessly to promote information about TS. The TSA has worked for recognition of Tourette syndrome as an organic disorder, lobbying the public, the government, and physicians. They have become adept at winning grants and shaping media treatment of the condition. Since its inception, research spurred by the TSA has grown in volume and sophistication, including controlled treatment studies and studies of pathophysiology and etiology. Many new research findings are the direct result of the TSA's "active facilitation of large collaborative research consortia in genetics, neuro-imaging, clinical trials, and the behavioral sciences", and their "concerted effort to identify current research advances, disseminate them among the scientific and clinical communities, and establish networks of basic and clinical scientists from all over the world".
In 2005 HBO produced in conjunction with the TSA an Emmy Award-winning documentary film, I Have Tourette's but Tourette's Doesn't Have Me.
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