Disability in Film: Autism Spectrum Disorders

By: Max

The original list I made was getting pretty chaotic, with an overload of information, so over the next few days/weeks, I’ll be making individual lists, to link to the original list, so that browsing may be easier and less confusing. I thank you for your patience. And, as always, if you have any suggestions, by all means, let me know.

Autism Spectrum Disorders:
-Rain Man (1988) by Barry Levinson

-A is for Autism (1992)
This Channel 4 documentary is primarily made up of drawings by individuals with autism and is narrated by those who can express their memories. Below, I have embedded the entire short film, via YouTube. Thanks to user COHEEDANDCAMBRIA for the recomendation.

-The Station Agent (2003) by Thomas McCarthy
Thanks to user Q for recommending this film for inclusion on the list.

-Autism is a World (2004)
Academy Award nominated documentary on an autistic woman’s inner world, her writing, and the friends she made while in college. The entire film is available on YouTube from the same user who posted Part 1, which is embedded below.

-Mozart and the Whale (2005)
Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell star as two people with Asperger’s syndrome who find themselves romantically linked together.

-Autism: The Musical (2007)
Autism: The Musical is an HBO documentary that follows the lives and families of five children with varying degrees of Autism as they work together to put on a musical.

-Her Name is Sabine (2007) by Sandrine Bonnaire
Thanks to user COHEEDANDCAMBRIA for suggesting this title for inclusion on the list.

-Adam (2009) by Max Mayer
Hugh Dancy portrays Adam, a man who is living with Aspberger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

-Mary and Max (2009) by Adam Elliot
Mary and Max is about an eight-year-old girl who becomes pen-pals with a 40-year-old man with Aspergers.
Thanks to user AMY for suggesting this film for addition to the list

-The Magic of J-Mac (2009)
The story of an Autistic high school basketball team manager, Jason McElwain, who gets a chance to play in a regular season game and shoots the lights out. His story inspires two other high school basketball team managers, one with Autism and one with Downs Syndrome to follow in J-Mac’s footsteps.

The Magic of J-Mac from Jim Karabin on Vimeo.

-Temple Grandin (2010)
Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes, is an HBO film about a real-life woman with high-functioning Autism, who has become a bestselling author and one of the top consultants to the livestock industry in animal behavior.