“Finding an insight for a client never felt so good,” affirmed Rich Silverstein, co-chairman and creative director of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P).
The insight was related to an account, Hewlett-Packard (HP), with which the agency has since parted ways–but that’s incidental. What’s important is that it yielded a discovery that has helped to unlock the prison of autism for a number of youngsters and has the potential to positively impact many others.
“That is the part I’m most proud of, what the conscientious work of our people and those they teamed with has helped to accomplish,” said Silverstein. “We were originally just trying to market a product to consumers and then discovered something that’s good for society.”
Getting the ball rolling was GS&P’s John Coyne, who served as account director on HP. And picking up that ball and running with it on the filmmaking front were producer Clint Goldman and director Peter Sorcher of Bodega Studios, turning out a powerful, emotionally moving, enlightening short subject documentary as well as several case study films.
The documentary, I Want To Say, is slated to make its world premiere at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco’s historic Presidio national park on May 1. The film also has scheduled screenings in New York on May 14, Chicago on June 4, and a Los Angeles showing is in the works. Furthermore the documentary short will likely make its way to the festival and awards show circuit.
But everything–from the film to the encouraging results of the overall initiative–was made possible by an insight uncovered by Coyne.
“Our job was to sell HP’s TouchSmart technology computers, to find markets for it,” noted Silverstein. “In trying to figure out ways to apply the touch screen technology, John thought of a family he knew whose son had autism. John isn’t a scientist but he wondered if the youngster, Jordan, would find the touch screen interesting. As it turns out, Jordan found the technology riveting and began communicating through it. John saw the amazing potential and pursued it, pushing to get the technology in the hands of families we identified, to see if these results could be replicated.”
GS&P hooked up with HP’s chief technologist Phil McKinney (since retired) who provided access to TouchSmart technology for designated families, working with the Palo Alto, Calif.-based, not-for-profit Hope Technology School, which specializes in educating a classroom mix inclusive of both neurotypical students and those with developmental differences. Technology plays a vital role in the motivation and progress of Hope Technology School students, fostering reading, writing, math and communication skills.
From all this emerged Hacking Autism, an initiative to develop and deploy technology to give people with autism a voice. HP also brought Autism Speaks into the fold. A leading autism science and advocacy organization, Autism Speaks worked with HP, GS&P and Hope Technology School to launch the first Hacking Autism event, the Hackathon, which connected the autism community with technology developers. Families impacted by autism, technologists and educators met last October for a two-day Hackathon session at HP headquarters to develop innovative touch-enabled applications for those with autism, and to make this software available free of charge. Computer engineers and designers heard directly from educators, students and parents, forming a cooperative commitment resulting in their very first app, a game designed to teach kids to distinguish simple emotions. (For more, log onto HackingAustism.org and/or facebook.com/HackingAustism.)
Peter H. Bell, executive vice president, programs and services, for Autism Speaks, hopes to stage more Hackathons across the country and internationally. He envisions Autism Speaks taking on a greater level of management and oversight of the Hacking Autism initiative.
The power of film The documentary and the case study films sprung from the need to get the word out to the world at large, reflecting the human stories so that mainstream society–which has a cursory understanding of autism at best–can better understand the condition and see the promise and value of technology in addressing it. Plus there was the compelling purpose of making more in the autism community aware of advancements and breakthroughs being made.
Spearheading the film campaign for GS&P were its executive producer Todd Porter and producer Whitney Ferris. Bodega partner/executive producer Goldman got wind of the project and felt director Sorcher was ideal for it. He got Sorcher’s documentary Eat The Sun to Ferris, and GS&P began to see the merits of choosing the filmmaker for the autism assignment. There were other merits as well, namely Bodega, Goldman and Sorcher’s commitment of time, talent, creative and full financial resources to the cause, the filmmaking centerpiece of which is I Want To Say.
Sorcher and Goldman went on to spend the better part of some two years chronicling 22 families with children affected by autism, and how touch screen technology impacted the youngsters’ lives. For the final short subject documentary, the focus was placed on six families but Goldman said all the 20-plus families warranted having their stories told on film. “We have enough for a feature-length film and more,” he related.
For virtually all the families, shared Goldman, the typical scenario was he and Sorcher would meet the family, the child with autism and any siblings. The first impression was that the “normal” siblings were active while the kids with autism would seem out of touch and have nothing to offer. “But once they got on the computer,” related Goldman, “we found that they were so much more extraordinarily gifted than typical kids. Your jaw just drops. There’s Kayla who was depressed, had no hope, was nowhere for sixteen years….Schools wouldn’t accept her. Now she has a voice, a powerful talented voice and is a gifted student. All these kids were able to finally show their families who they are, to express their thoughts and feelings.”
The children with autism whom we meet in the documentary short are Jordan, Kayla, Christian, David, Gabriel and Ronnaia. The moments captured are real and poignant, with Jordan’s mom recalling hearing her son say for the first time that he loves her. Another mother related that when her daughter Ronnaia was on a touch screen computer for the first time, “All kinds of things came out of her that we didn’t know existed…We met our daughter that day.”
These families–particularly the children–opened their homes and bared their lives and souls to the camera in exchange, said Goldman, “for the hope that they can help just one other child. Maybe a child in some part of the world they’ve never seen who some day will get access to a discarded iPad and download some free software–and that child will be able to talk, to connect with others, to participate in life just like your children and mine. That’s all these kids want–to be like you and me.”
Sorcher and Goldman, respectively, also directed and produced the alluded to case study-style shorts about Hacking Autism, detailing that initiative, including the key role Jordan played in triggering what has become a global technology development movement with the support of such entities as HP, Intel, Quest, Disney, Autism Speaks and the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism.
Among the credits for I Want To Say, a Bodega and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners production, are director/DP Sorcher, producer Goldman, executive producer Porter, co-producer Ferris, writers Jody Horn and Tim Semple, cinematographer Steve Condiotti, and editor Ian Montgomery. Postproduction and audio services were provided by Northern Lights and Superexploder, sister shops to Bodega. Title design and graphics were by Picture Mill.
The trailer for I Want To Say is currently online, most notably on YouTube. According to Bell, Autism Speaks’ involvement in social media exposure for the documentary was yet to be determined at press time. He noted that Autism Speaks will participate in a number of the premiere screenings, starting with the event in San Francisco.
“We are very supportive of the essence of this film,” said Bell. “We believe that technology truly is going to play a significant, growing role in the future of autism and will help many individuals who otherwise would not be able to share their thoughts, opinions and perspectives.”
Increased relevance According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control last month, one in 88 children is diagnosed with some form of autism. That means autism is twice as common as the government reported just a scant five years ago, making the overall initiative and the message of the documentary short and case study films all the more relevant. The rate is currently even higher in boys, estimated at one in 54.
Dr. David P. Traver, a leading autism specialist, who appears in the documentary and a number of the shorts, noted that with the help of technology “every single individual has shown remarkable capacity to express thought at levels we are shocked to encounter,” shattering the conventional models that existed for people with autism. He affirmed that they are human beings who have something to say and to share.
Kayla’s dad said that five years ago he wouldn’t have imagined that his daughter would be going to college. And now Kayla’s studies are driven by a sense of purpose for the autism community. She defines her goal as simply being “to change the way people view us.”
Here’s the trailer for I Want To Say:
