It seems as if the media has covered everything there is to know about Autism. Though, even with all the extensive research, it seemed to forget one fundamental human factor: love. Although people with Autism have a hard time expressing themselves and communicating with others, they still express a desire for relationships and many are even married.
When Carolina Groppa began working with Dr. Ira Heilveil on a book regarding autism and romantic relationships, she was surprised to learn how little research there was on the subject, and as a film producer, she knew there was a cinematic story to be told to the world. She teamed up with director Matt Fuller, a classmate from the University of Central Florida, and began work on what became Autism in Love, the heartfelt documentary premiering this week in the Tribeca Film Festival.
“As a filmmaker I feel like I’m always looking for stories about characters or people who want something it seems as though they can’t have,” Fuller said by phone a few days before the film’s premiere. “How can someone who’s so limited in terms of communication and interpersonal relationships, how do they find the most intimate relationship we all want?”
Groppa and Fuller began their research by building relationships with parents of autistic children. Although they were skeptical about their intentions, the relationship between the groups grew, Groppa said, “I think [they were] really excited to be talking about it and to be sharing it, because there’s no focus on it. No one’s asking these questions.”
The film focuses on four different adults with autism located all over the country.
Autism in Love isn’t a documentary with a specific agenda, there’s no discussion of what causes the disorder, what might cure it, or the controversial debate surrounding it. But Fuller and Groppa do hope that audiences walk out of the film with a specific idea in mind. “First is empathy,” Fuller says. “This is about really spending time with them and seeing them as individuals, and not their disabilities.”
