Directed by Tricia Regan
2007, 94 minutes
Bunim-Murray Productions
Autism: The Musical premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in 2007. HBO Documentary Films will be showing the film in April 2008. Check out praise for Autism the Musical and upcoming screenings near you.
About the Film
In 1980, autism was a relatively rare disorder, diagnosed in one in 10,000 children in the United States. Now it is one in 150.
Autism: The Musical counters today’s bleak statistics with one woman’s optimistic pledge to lead a group of autistic children in defying diagnosed expectations by writing, rehearsing, and performing their own full-length musical.
Following five Los Angeles children over the course of six months, director Tricia Regan captures the struggles and triumphs of their family lives and observes how this musical production gives these performers a comfort zone in which they can explore their creative sides.
Both on and off stage, Autism: The Musical is a call-to-arms, bringing attention to a modern-day epidemic, all the while celebrating the way the human spirit can overcome any challenge.
About the Director
Tricia Regan is an award-winning director, producer, and cinematographer of documentary film and television. Her film work has been theatrically distributed and broadcast on five different continents in six different languages. Her work includes A Leap of Faith, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1996; and Soldiers Pay (2004), which she co-directed with filmmakers David O. Russell and Juan Carlos Zaldivar. For television, Ms. Regan directs, produces, and shoots for ABC, Fox, NBC, MTV, VH1, Lifetime, and TLC. This is Ms. Regan’s first feature film cinematography credit.
About In Effect Films
In Effect Films was co-founded by Perrin Chiles and David Glynn with the goal of using the medium of documentary film to affect change in society. In Effect Films is a California-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that produces high-quality documentaries on significant social issues affecting children. Autism the Musical is the debut production from In Effect Films.
Click here to read an interview with Tricia Regan, Director of Autism: The Musical
