Richard and Jaco: Life with Autism

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While the debate continues about GMOs, Roundup and other toxic pesticides, this powerful film shares remarkable stories of people who regain their health after discovering the secret ingredients in their food and making a bold commitment to avoid them.

For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.

Junha is one of the most difficult children at the school. His autism causes him to attack his classmates and even teachers without warning. Each outburst further isolates Junha from his community as his teachers and peers struggle to find a way to live "with" Junha. The camera provides an intimate look into this society, leaving the question; what is human entity and how is it connected?

10-year-old Austin Eletto has autism. He’s also an aspiring stand-up comic. This short documentary spotlights the struggle of growing up with labels, and how Austin uses comedy to embrace and overcome them. Through the intimate story of Austin as he faces adversity and hardships, our audience will be thoroughly connected to his childhood experience, making the inevitable laughs bigger and more inspired.

When adults are ineffectual, children have to grow up quickly. Ola is 14 and she takes care of her dysfunctional father, autistic brother and a mother who lives apart from them and is mainly heard the phone. Most of all she wants to reunite a family that simply doesn’t work — like a defective TV set. She lives in the hope of bringing her mother back home. Her 13 year old brother Nikodem’s Holy Communion is a pretext for the family to meet up. Ola is entirely responsible for preparing the perfect family celebration. “Communion” reveals the beauty of the rejected, the strength of the weak and the need for change when change seems impossible. This crash course in growing up teaches us that failure is not final. Especially when love is in question.

Born in 1948, Peter Street struggled at school with epilepsy and illiteracy in Bolton, Lancashire, and, later in life, as a slaughterman, a gravedigger and a war poet. At 66 years old he was then diagnosed with autism, and his world changed forever.

Filmmaker Michel Orion Scott captures a magical journey into a little-known world, in a documentary which chronicles Rupert Isaacson and Kristin Neff's personal odyssey to make sense of their child's autism, and find healing for him and themselves in the unlikeliest of places.

Through unique artistic approach, the director reveals the world of autism - bringing the audience closer to the main characters - talented and creative children with a fascinating way of thinking.

I don’t know how to describe my sister. So instead of conveying with words, I decided to point a camera. The documentary 'Chizuru' was directed by Masakazu Akasaki of Rikkyo University's Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts in the School of Contemporary Psychology. This film, planned as his graduation project, is a fresh and gentle family story that continuously filmed Akasaki's sister, Chizuru, who has severe intellectual disabilities and autism, and their mother over the course of a year.

Follows five autistic children as they work together to create and perform a live musical production.

A group of educators led by Fernand Deligny are working to create contact with autistic children in a hamlet of the Cevennes.

The Hugo's Brain is a French documentary-drama about autism. The documentary crosses authentic autistic stories with a fiction story about the life of an autistic (Hugo), from childhood to adulthood, portraying his difficulties and his handicap.

When Fernanda and Andressa received the autism diagnoses of their sons, Rafael and Martin, they faced a future marked by invasive treatments and fear. Seeking autonomy, they found in cannabis oil a key to give their children the chance to dream and fight for dignity.

For the past 20 years, the world has seen an alarming decrease in IQ and a rise of autism and behavioral disorders. This international scientific investigation reveals how chemicals in objects surrounding us affect our brain, and especially those of fetuses.

Upon learning of his father's terminal illness diagnosis, a young, autistic, hearing-impaired artist travels back to Taiwan with a filmmaker to make a film in his honour.

When filmmaker Yoshifumi Tsubota learns about his slightly autistic uncle who lives alone, he decides to visit him. Drawn to his uncle’s unique personality, he begins to roll his camera as he visits him over the years. Tsubota himself had been diagnosed with a developmental disability and so understanding his uncle is also an act of understanding himself. Through intimate and personal footage, this charming film is gem of a documentary that also highlights contemporary social issues surrounding aging and social care for the disabled.

“Special,” “Gifted,” “Different,”… Despite the vast inventory of words to describe children who are on the Autism Spectrum, we still understand so little about their worlds outside of the medical lens. In Our World follows 3 children in their day-to-day lives – swimming classes, horse-riding, music lessons, special moments with their parents and therapists – and so much more, converging into a narrative that spells hope. The documentary aims to reveal the intricacies of their world and perhaps pave the way for OUR world, and for both to coexist with empathy and kindness.

Director Lee Sin Yee reveals a deeply personal and reflective retelling of growing up with her brother who has autism. This autobiographical documentary explores her relationships with her sibling as they grow up together, yet separately. Interviewing her parents and interacting with her brother, she gives us an insight to her past and how she has come to understand her brother better.

MOLE MAN follows RON, a 66-year-old autistic man who has spent the last five decades building a 50-room structure in his parents' backyard. Using no nails or mortar, Ron instead creates perfectly balanced structures from scavenged materials he finds in the woods outside his Western Pennsylvania home. When Ron's father passes away, leaving him living alone with his 90-year-old mother, Ron's siblings are left to figure out what's best for Ron - who has never been officially diagnosed with autism - when his mother can no longer care for him. In an effort to find the money to keep Ron in his home, his friends team up in search of a mythical mansion Ron insists lays abandoned in the forest. But will they be able to find it? And, more importantly, does it even exist? This is the story of an extraordinary life, a family, and the beauty of thinking differently.