MINNETONKA, Minn. — An upcoming documentary on autistic people features Minnesota’s own Lionsgate Academy and its families.
The film is by Scott Steindorff, a Minnesota native. He is also an autistic person and tells his story along with others through his own lens.
Lionsgate Academy said this is the sort of movie people need to watch.
Diane Restorff retired from her executive director position, but before her retirement from Lionsgate Academy, she decided to let Steindorff and his crew into the school, which is a public charter school providing free education to autistic students.
“The representation that people with autism are getting through this documentary is first class,” she said.
Creech Unger, 16, was featured in the documentary, who wanted to be a part of the film because he is passionate about teaching people about autism.
“It touches on the struggles,” he said. “But it doesn't have like the whole, you know, oh my God, my kid has autism. It's so hard. Everything's so hard. It sucks so much. It accepts autism and talks about it, instead of making it seem like it's this big, terrifying thing.”
Unger said too often people have a misunderstanding of autism. He lived through it when he went to a different school.
“It was really hard for me make friends because I felt like I was doing something wrong being me,” said Creech. “So I kept having to try different ways of being not me. And none of them were working. And I was just kind of accepting that I'm the weird kid that nobody wants to be friends with. But then I came here, and everybody is accepting of me as me.”
His mom, Ann Wiesner, said that is precisely the reason why people need to watch this documentary. To make the world a more thoughtful and kind place so everyone can be themselves everywhere. Not just at Lionsgate.
“It's even little things that aren't our standards and norms about what is acceptable conduct,” she said. “Like sitting. Looking people in the eye. All of those social expectations are really challenging for a lot of autistic folks.”
“People could look at that documentary and maybe understand that when they see a kid on their doorstep at Halloween,” said Restorff. “Who doesn't say thank you for the candy, or who maybe pushes their way in front and it seems kind of rude. That maybe their first thought wouldn't be oh, you know, that's rude. That's bad parenting. But maybe, what supports are needed here? What can we do?”
Diane, Creech and Ann say they loved the documentary and encourage folks to attend a special screening benefiting the Lionsgate Foundation on March 17th at The Main Cinema.
For tickets, click here. The film will premiere nationwide April 14.
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