Exceptional Minds in Transition

Exceptional Minds is a vocational school and animation studio for adults on the autism spectrum.
[Film Clip]
“... it doesn’t have to hold you back. So stick with me and find out what its really like to be autistic.”
“What is AUTISM?”
This is Leni. He has classic autism.  Even though he is 9 years old, he can't really talk and we think he won’t have much independence and he will be looked after all his life.

Laura Robinson：
What do you guys think? Hmmm?

Student：
I was the exact same way at his age

Student：
Wow

Student：
you didn’t talk when you were 9

Student：
Mmmhmmm

Student：
Barely

Student：
Yeah, yeah, that’s what I was.  I couldn’t talk until 5 I think.

Student：
Well the good thing is, that it is possible for severe… for people with severe autism to learn to be and act normal  

Laura Robinson：
Did you guys like how… Oh yeah, sorry, Lloyd?

Lloyd: 
It was… he was better than the previous video

Laura Robinson：
My name is Laura Robinson.  My parents tell me that like I was diagnosed when I was around 2. I was pretty normal and all that in development and I was starting to talk. But then just one day I stopped responding. I would not respond to my name I wouldn't respond to anything. Um, and then they got me diagnosed and they just immediately, the thought of like “No, there is no way that we are going to let our child become, um, they didn’t want me to fade away, basically.  They didn’t want me to not be a part of this world. I also even had a couple of physical ticks. My mom told me that I would flap my hands. So they took me to speech therapy. I also would watch all my old movies and pick up cues from there.  Ever since I was a little kid I always just loved animation and it really helped shape who I am today.

Student：
We have to uh… what's the day?

Student：
Today is Thursday.

Laura Cechanowicz:
And I am curious. How did you decide you want to be an animator

Student：
Drawing is my favorite thing to do.

Student：
I want make animation of like real stuff. Real stuff in the world.

Laura Robinson：
Like a documentary?

Student：
Yeah.

David Miles:
Like if I want to choose any sort of career. It’s that. Making these things that make people as happy as they made me. So…

Laura Robinson：
I actually I look forward to my Saturday morning’s ‘cuz sometimes I’m like “I’m going to put on one of my Animaniac’s DVD’s”, just because I can.

David Miles: 
‘Cuz you’re an adult and what does it mean to be an adult an America than to be able to put on your Animaniac’s DVD’s at 6 o’clock on Saturday morning.

David Miles:
Though my experiences with school weren’t necessarily very positive. Academically, I usually struggled behind the class and socially I didn’t make friends very easily. I was buliied a lot. It was, there was never any real, cut and dry, this the point where I’ve become a normal person. One of the ideas I had floating in the back of my mind for the longest time is I always wanted to be an animator. I never really took it seriously and then I discovered this program. This whole clip takes place after a robot apocolypse. And the main character is just this little cyborg girl, just wandering in this ruinous landscape.

David Miles:
And her name is Woglinde, which I got from listening to too much Wagner.  And I did all the music, ucalaly and kazoo, and so.

[Animation Clip] 
Student：
What were you doing before you came to exceptional minds?

Student：
Um, before I came here, I was going to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Um, there I was double majoring in Theater and Film and I really enjoyed that but being in the academic the G.E. classes.

Laura Cechanowicz:
I like how you put it in the video footage.

Kevin Tichter:
But yeah, it’s going good.

Laura Cechanowicz:
Yeah, it’s going great.

Kevin Tichter:
Yeah.

Laura Cechanowicz:
Yeah.

Kevin Tichter:
I’m having a blast.

Laura Cechanowicz:
Well thanks for showing us.

Kevin Tichter:
Yeah thank you.

Nicky Benoist:
Nicholas Samuel Benoist. Nicholas Benoist. Nicky Benoist. Nicky. Nic. I don’t know. I’ve worked on quite a few and it’s kind of hard to choose a favorite. I think the one my mother would want me to answer is, “Cool Carla”.  I animated the whole 3 plus minutes of the song and my own like choices on what exactly would be in the animation.  She’s really proud of that one, the school is really proud of that one. And I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t proud of it too. This is a gi. It is the typical uniform for when you do karate. The color dictates like how, how advanced you are. I got an, I think it was an A.A., Associates Degree in Computer Drafting and Design. And I went to the CIP, College Internship Program, where I learned more independant living skills. My bed time stuff and this is a really cool lamp, where you just have to touch it and goes three different levels of light. This is Tangerine, I believe. Let’s see, he was from, he just helps me remember my old roommate. Back at, back at, um, back at uh College Internship Program.

Laura Cechanowicz:
If you had to move from this place and you could only take two things, what would you take with you?

Nicky Benoist:
My computer and my 3DS with games in it, I guess, I don’t know. But, yeah, that would be really, that would be really annoying if I could only take two things because there are so many other things that would be important to bring. Like, like um, I don’t know. Like, oh yeah, my wallet and my phone and that kind of stuff, that’s important. I shouldn’t realize that that’s important. Here is where I keep my important stuff. Like my wallet and my keys are in here. Let’s see, I think my next goal is to, for next year when, for Exceptional Minds, to occassionally drive myself there instead of having David drive me there.

David Miles:
When I first sort of realized that I was going to be living for the most part on my own, I was definitely excited at first and, eventually, I started having reservations about it, I started having like, “Oh, can I really do this?”.  Sometimes it can get lonely, you just have to make a little bit more effort to be social. It helps you become you, more than anything else, I feel.

Shane McKaskle:
From the Planet Streetor 9, there lived the greatest hero that ever lived. That’s me. ( ) the Great. Not you.  What? Whose more important than me? The Sky, the Sky Blue Warrior. Him? Yes, Him. Yeah, Im going to win this race. Sorry dude, this isn’t going to be a racing show. What? Like the Car Machine doesn’t race. Yeah, and there’s going to be more adventures of car machine pretty soon.

Teacher:
What’d you do for this?

Lloyd Hackl:
Fur.

Teacher:
You attached the fur. You want to zoom in on the fur to show what that looks like.  Lloy’d wanted to go deeper with, um, the rendering. Uh, Lloyd, what did you add to the picture that wasn’t there to begin with?

Teacher:
Yeah, the hat and the, what?

Lloyd Hackl:
And what else?

Teacher:
The hat and…

Lloyd Hackl:
That.

Teacher:
Bandana, yes. Against advice actually, he decided that Fievel needed to be wearing the cowboy hat and a bandana. So, even if it’s going to result in more work, we don’t uh, try and discourage them, ‘cuz if their passionate about it, there’s nothing more important than the stuff that really drives them. Because that’s what’s going to be that ends up being what they learn and being what they end up doing for work hopefully.

Laura Robinson：
What we want our students to see at the end of the tunnel, is that, “Okay, I can master this program”. We want to get them certified in this software. And basically, if you get certified in it and you put it on your resume, it’s going to say, “Look, I know how to use this program”, and then when I do get that job, I’ll be able to do it.  

Laura Robinson：
My whole life, I’ve been like, ‘Um, normal? What? What is that, actually? I don’t know.

David Miles:
The word I always heard was neurotypical. There’s, if you’re not autistic, you’re neurotypical.

Laura Robinson：
Mmmmm.

Laura Robinson：
I always knew that something was different about me. Like I, but I never really asked my parents. I never really asked like you know, ‘but why do I have to go see, uh this person?”, and then flash-forward many years later, to when I’m in 8th grade and I’m in a study hall class with only 2 other kids. And then my, the supervisor, she hands me this flier that said something about like, uh, I forget what it was, but I remember seeing the word, ‘Autism’, I’m like, ‘Uh, I don’t know what this word means’. And I, and she kind of described it to me and I’m like, ‘wait a minute’, and so that was when the pieces started kind of falling together, and, you know, it’s like.  Like, think of it, like at that age, like, it’d be like discovering that, uh, that you were blind all this time or something like that.

Nicky Benoist:
I did not realize until I was told, I have to admit. I knew when I was young that I would be very, I would be very hyper-sensitive, but, I’m not sure if it was because I was closed-minded, or I was just too busy to notice. I felt like all kids went through that kind of stuff.

David Miles:
I wasn’t, I wasn’t diagnosed with autism until I was 17. And what I had seen of autism on T.V. were people who were barely functioning, barely able to communicate, so uh, deep inside I felt, ‘No. no. This isn’t me, this is isn’t me at all’. And eventually I-I sort of realized, uh, from doing research, from meeting other people with, with it, uh, that, ‘oh, okay. So this is just who I am’.

Pat Miles:
It wasn’t until he was, in the 9th grade when we finally got the diagnosis that he had like, autistic behaviors. And at first I thought there would be a lot of resources out there to connect to. And, um, especially as an adolescent, there were less and less opportunities for him to get some kind of support. So, I’m glad that he has had this opportunity to go to Exceptional Minds, it’s really helped.

Ernie Merland:
Welcome to Exceptional Minds, this is our exciting new space that we have been working on for months.

Teacher:
You have a title for your master work.

Lloyd Hackl:
The Game Theater.

Teacher:
Game Theater, yeah.

Teacher:
Game, thank you.

Lloyd Hackl:
Hello, my name is Lloyd. My project is called, Game Theater. I made it using, I made it using Photoshop and After Effects here at Exceptional Minds.

Laura Cechanowicz: 
When it comes to discrimination against the autism population, I think, the biggest one is that, neurotypical’s, they think that we will not be able to carry on in society.  

[Animated Clip] 
From the Planet Streetor 9, there lived the greatest hero that ever lived.That’s me, Jerk-O, the Great.

Ed Asner:
The animation that I saw today just staggered the hell out of me. It was lovely. Beautiful. It’s funny. I hope that, uh, people become ignited and uh, attempt to do something for these young people, who all seem high functioning to me. To find some way to give them hope. They deserve it.

Ernie Merland:
Ed, this is an award that we are giving you.

Ed Asner:
You almost dropped it, you know that?

Ed Asner:
Ahhh, that’s what we do with the award.

Brian Brady:
This is the best thing that’s ever happened for our son, Patrick, and we feel completely confident that he’s going to get out into the world and and be able to be an animator.

Laura Cechanowicz:
Can you tell me about your hopes for Patrick?

Mayi Brady:
Simple. That he has a job doing something that he loves and has his independance. That’s it. Because that is what every parent wants for their child, right? To be successful and happy.

Brian Brady:
And this is, this is the place, and we couldn’t, couldn’t of been more fortunate to be uh, for Mind’s to be at the right place at the right time. Where we all think and we all believe, is going to be uh, change so many young adults lives, that uh, you know, traditionally they’ve been kind of lost.

Mayi Brady:
Yeah, after high school they just kind of drop off the grid. What do you do with them?

Patrick Brady:
Without here, still, I wouldn’t be anything. Get support of, I gain my talents.

Ernie Merland:
These guys have been unbelievable. Um, not only are they great teachers to your students but they are mentors to them, they are advisors to them, they are friends to them.

Laura Cechanowicz:
I never thought that, like, everything would kind of come full circle, and that like, you know, here is the mid-20’s, I guess asperger’s girl, educating other young adults that are on the spectrum. I never thought that I would be doing that, so early in my life, or that I would ever work with the autism community. My parent’s kind of think of it as, like, you know, the stars aligning, but they could not be happier.

David Miles:
My dad is probably one of the most inspirational people to be me.  He is the most selfless human being I’ve ever met. Uh, both my parents are really.

Mr. Miles:
What can you say? He grew up. No, he really has, in the last two years, or three, or year I should say. He’s gone from being a snot-nosed kid to a young man who is able to take care of himself.

David Miles:
I hope eventually one day I can start being able to pay back my parent’s for all the kindness that they have given to me. Like, ‘Yay, you’ve taken care of me for 23 years. It’s time for me to start taking care of you more.

Mr. Miles:
I could only say that I’m very proud of my son and that I’m really glad you’re doing what you’re doing and that you just got to keep it up. Keep going at it.

David Miles:
Hi everyone, my name is David. I, I’ve been fascinated with the idea of storytelling almost as far back as I can remember. Um, I’ve always found the idea that the human mind can translate, um, different random noises that we produce with our mouths and different symbols that we draw with our hands into actual concrete meanings, so without further adiue, Bolinda and the Music Box.

David Miles:
Definitely, more attached to everyone around me because I know that we all have our sort of different hang-ups, we all have our different conditions and disorders sometimes, and I also sort of realize that there isn’t such a thing as normal.

Ernie Merland:
This is Exceptional Mind’s, right here.