Film Finders: Exploring Special Topics

Introduces the viewer to the special interests, speech and language characteristics, social interaction difficulties and cognitive challenges of people with AS.

This video looks at Asperger students in general and explains the causes, symptoms, and strategies for coping with Asperger Syndrome.

Dr. Temple describes the challenges she has faced and offers no-nonsense ideas on how others dealing with autism can meet these obstacles and improve the quality of their lives.

Documents a young boy's struggle with Asperger's syndrome. Adam and his family share their everyday challenges and triumphs to provide insights into this disorder.

Captures what living with autism & Asperger's means through interviews with over 65 subjects who have either Asperger's syndrome or autism.

The true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger's syndrome, whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes.

Einstein, Beethoven, Mozart, Van Gogh: all displayed symptoms of Asperger's syndrome. But not every person with Asperger's is a genius. This program follows a self-described eccentric who, after discovering he matches up with the general Asperger's profile, sets out on a quest to learn all he can about the disorder, and whether he truly does have it.

In this feature film, a thirteen-year-old with Asperger Syndrome runs away from home and discovers a new world on the NYC subway. His mother Mariana, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, starts a panicked search of their neighborhood in Rockaway Beach with the help of a local shopkeeper. But as days pass with no sign of her son, and with Hurricane Sandy bearing down, the divisions the family has tried to ignore are brought to light.

This program reports on the neurological disorder Asperger's syndrome, which makes normal interactions with peers almost impossible for affected children. Studies shed light on both the compulsive fixations and the difficulties in comprehending facial expressions that characterize Asperger's patients.

Lizzie Gottlieb began filming her brother Nicky when he was 21 and had just been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome - a high functioning form of autism. She sets out to try to understand this disorder and its effects on her brother and her family.

Documents students attending Gateway Academy, a private K-12 day school in Scottsdale, Arizona, specializing in Asperger syndrome, high-functioning Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

Tells the true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger's Syndrome, whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes. As a boy in Queens, NY, Darius found sanctuary from school bullies in the subway. There he befriended transit workers who taught him to drive trains. By age 8, he memorized the entire subway system. At 15, he drove a packed train 6 stops by himself, making all the stops and announcements. Over the next three decades, Darius commandeered hundreds of trains and buses, staying en route and on schedule, without ever getting paid. He attended transit worker union meetings, lobbying for better pay and working conditions for a union he didn't belong to. Although Darius has never damaged any property or hurt anyone in his decades of service, he has spent 23 years in maximum security prison. Darius' recidivism embodies the criminal justice system's failure to channel the passions of a harmless, mentally-challenged man into a productive career and purposeful life.

Profiles five children with autism, their parents, and acting coach Elaine Hall as they take on the enterprise of a full-length stage production.

This film charts the personal journey of three families with children who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The film features the perspectives of many of the passionate autism advocates Parish has met along his personal ASD journey.

Researchers examine the possibility that autism is caused by bacteria in the intestines that effect brain development during childhood. Explores the increase in autism among immigrant children in the United States.

Visits the Brown Center for Autism, devoted to the care and treatment of autistic children. Discusses what happens when the individual with autism moves into adulthood, including entering the workforce.

This documentary explores the lives of four adults on the autism spectrum as they pursue and manage romantic relationships.

A documentary about Sue Rubin, who is autistic. She takes the viewer on a journey into her mind, her daily world and her life with autism.

A six-part series of reports about autism. Part 1: Robert MacNeil shares grandson Nick's story; Part 2: Autism Prevalence; Part 3: Autism Causes Part 4: Autism Treatment; Part 5: Adults with Autism; Part 6: Autism Policy

This documentary looks at the history of autism, and current research into causes, treatment and prevalence.

This documentary depicts the daily challenges faced by young people on the autism spectrum, and creative therapies and art programs that stimulate the brain and help young people on the autism spectrum reach their highest potential.

This documentary follows a nonverbal young man's transition from the school system into adulthood. Brian has autism and faces the daily challenges of adjusting to his new life. Filmed from the intimate perspective of his older sister Heather, this film seeks to understand Brian's personality as an individual with autism.

Visit a highly regarded school in America for autism and meet the students and their families to get a glimpse of what life is like for them.

In recent years, there's been a dramatic increase in the number of children being diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders and prescribed medications that are just beginning to be tested in children. The drugs can cause serious side effects, and virtually nothing is known about their long-term impact.

In 1994, Ruffin White was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. His case was so severe that his neurologist predicted that he would never speak, hold a job, or be able to live independently. With scant professional resources available in Ruffin's rural Iowa town, his single mother, Mary Jane White, was forced to be creative in order to get Ruffin treatment, even recruiting the local community to assist in Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, an evidence-based behavioral therapy focused on the science of learning and behavior. Today, Ruffin is about to graduate from UCSD with a PhD in Robotics.