During the day he can be seen bustling around the Fresno State campus””an energetic professor with a bag on his back and a smile on his face, always ready to introduce students to the world of psychology.

In the evenings, he keeps that same energy as he teaches a different kind of class, a class filled with students of a much different variety.

“We’re teaching martial arts to kids and families,” Michael “Misha” Thackery said.

What started as a six-month self-defense commitment with his wife in 1974 has since become a Thackery-style exercise in behavioral psychology.

“I’d been working in a mental hospital and it was really violent sometimes,” Thackery said. “So I wanted to learn how to fight. And my wife said if you’re going to do it, I’m going to do it. We were going to do it for six months but we got way into it.”

Under the banner of taekwando, karate, and other martial art disciplines, Thackery and his team of instructors at Martial Art Fresno apply positive training and psychology to the needs of children, some of whom suffer from behavioral disorders.

“We’ve got kids in the autism spectrum, children with mental retardation, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome,” Thackery said. “Kids with depression, movement disorders, all kinds of things.”

Thackery, a seventh-degree taekwondo black belt, said his approach is one that defies tradition, especially when it comes to children who may be discriminated against elsewhere.

“Other martial arts places have a way of teaching that’s old style,” Thackery said.­ “And if a kid can do that, fine, but if not they fall by the wayside, and those are the kids that need it the most.

“If you’re a child, anything that isolates you is horrible. You need to be with other kids, not one-on-one with the old man like in ‘The Karate Kid.’”

The school takes in students of any age, even those as young as one.

“If they’re walking they’re good to go,” said Steve Richardson, marketing director and wing tsun instructor at the school. “We have a special ‘Mommy and Me’ class just for them.”

At any given moment during the school’s daily sessions, children, teens, and parents””who can join with their child at no extra cost””train together regardless of disability, skill level, or athletic ability.

Together they exercise, spar and ultimately have fun.

“No parent brings me their kid to learn how to fight,” Thackery said. “They bring them to learn how to get along with people. So we teach our school according to psychology principles, not martial arts. While we do teach martial arts, we don’t teach it like other people.”

While the pupils train, Thackery allows students from his introduction to psychology or introduction to clinical psychology classes to observe for extra credit.

Thackery said that the experience provides a rare opportunity for his collegiate students.

“What other way while you’re in college can you see this stuff?” Thackery asked. “These are clinical kids, heavy-duty clinical kids. This is what a student is going to see if they go into this field.”

Along with the extra credit, Thackery employs at least two current Fresno State students, with another on the way.

Josh Hurd, a 19-year-old sophomore and criminology major, is in the process of applying to be the school’s next instructor.

Hurd said that Thackery’s introduction to psychology class was memorable.

“He’s the most unique teacher I’ve ever had,” Hurd said. “He had an almost childish energy, and I think that reflects well on the school here.”

That rare nature led Thackery and his family on an unconventional path to Fresno.

After they began taekwondo training in 1974, Thackery and his wife, Noreen, decided to travel and sold all of their possessions in 1977.

The pair visited martial art schools across the world while Thackery applied for doctorate programs in psychology.

“We lived in a van,” Thackery said. “And we went from school to school all over America, Canada and finally the world, learning as we went.”

Thackery was accepted to Vanderbilt University and completed his doctorate of clinical psychology in 1982.

After completion of a post-doctorate fellowship and three years directing a mental health center, Thackery said he came to Fresno and was eventually recruited to Fresno State.

“I came because [Fresno State] had a better football team,” Thackery joked.

Initially, Thackery, as a self-described scientist at heart, taught graduate students and did research.

“The first few years here, I was publishing articles like a crazy man,” Thackery said. “Later I came to the realization that I was only going to be doing second-rate science. I thought I could be a first-rate teacher though.”

Thackery switched to teaching introductory psychology classes in 1995 and hasn’t looked back since.

His drive to teach helped in more than just the classroom. He and his wife have instructed their four children in martial arts: Timothy, 32, Rebecca, 29, Ciera, 18, and Indigo, 15.

“In fact,” Thackery said, “our martial arts school started out as a training ground for Tim…but we ended up with people sending us kids, and that took us by surprise because we didn’t teach kids back then.”

The family has seen continued competitive success in taekwondo, competing in as many as ten world championships and numerous national tournaments.

Timothy, Noreenw and Rebecca have all taken gold at least once in national championships.

Noreen Thackery, who is 62, the same age as Misha, won gold this year in her division at the World Taekwando Hanmadang, the sport’s signature tournament.

“Other fighters know us,” Thackery said. “For a while, fighters used to get discouraged against my son because he had a repuation as being the smartest player.”

And while the contests and medals are nice, Thackery said that helping kids continued to be one of his most enjoyable ventures.

“We can make an amazing transformation in some kids because these therapies work,” Thackery said. “It’s just how you apply it. This is over-the-counter group therapy without prescriptions. I really like doing it.”