The film's director, Samantha Buck, demonstrates a sensitivity comparable to that of Frederick Wiseman...Best Kept Secret is an exemplary documentary: It spotlights an important issue yet never seeks to squeeze the truth into an easily digestible narrative frame. Instead it expands its storytelling to the boundaries of messy, joyful and painful reality.
— Miriam Bale, New York Times
Some secrets aren't meant to be kept...Samantha Buck's documentary smartly sits back and watches as Mino works away. Apart from a few, briskly factual titles, there are no editorial intrusions here—no yammering experts, no pontificating activists, no sappy sentimental music. Just these kids, and the people who love them...A haunting film.
— Steve Whitty, The Star-Ledger
As Samantha Buck's moving documentary makes clear, the secret weapon at the public school for special-needs students is Janet Mino, an inspirational teacher with limitless patience and indefatigable enthusiasm...[The film] inserts the viewer into the overwhelming experience of teaching, parenting, even being an underprivileged young adult with autism.
— Annlee EllingsonLos Angeles Times