POV is excited to announce that two acclaimed documentaries about living with autism are now available for free streaming online! In Best Kept Secret, inspiring teacher Janet Mino races against the clock to find support options for graduating students who are about to “age out” of the education system. At the same time, Neurotypical provides an unprecedented exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves. Both films are available to watch online until October 7, 2013.
At a public school in Newark, N.J., the staff answers the phone by saying, “You’ve reached John F. Kennedy High School, Newark’s best-kept secret.” JFK provides an exceptional environment for students with special-education needs. In Best Kept Secret, Janet Mino, who has taught a class of young men for four years, is on an urgent mission. She races against the clock as graduation approaches for her severely autistic minority students. Once they graduate and leave the security of this nurturing place, their options for living independently will be few. Mino must help them find the means to support themselves before they “age out” of the system.
Neurotypical is an unprecedented exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves. Four-year-old Violet, teenaged Nicholas and adult Paula occupy different positions on the autism spectrum, but they are all at pivotal moments in their lives. How they and the people around them work out their perceptual and behavioral differences becomes a remarkable reflection of the “neurotypical” world — the world of the non-autistic — revealing inventive adaptations on each side and an emerging critique of both what it means to be normal and what it means to be human.
A number of POV films are available for streaming. Watch more POV films »
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