Boy Inside, The
Director & Producer: Marianne Kapland
Produced by: MSK Productions
Duration: 47 min.
Year of Production: 2006
Original Title: The Boy Inside
Winner of:
- Audience Choice Award, NHK Japan Prize 2007
- NHK Japan Prize 2007, Youth Education Division
- Freddie Award, International Health & Medical Media Awards, 2007
- CINE Golden Eagle Award, USA, 2007
An autistic boy struggles to graduate elementary school in this intensely personal film about growing up with Asperger Syndrome.
A rare insight into this increasingly common form of high-functioning autism, The Boy Inside follows 12-year-old Adam as he tries against all odds to make sense of bullies, girls and life in the real world.
Adam has Asperger Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism characterized by socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and an inability to interact successfully with others. As he enters adolescence, Adam struggles to navigate the complex youth culture of his school peers and his often stormy home relationships with his mother, father and older sister.
Will Adam be able to develop the necessary social skills and learn how to make, and keep, friends so he doesn’t feel so utterly alone?
The Boy Inside is a rare and intimate portrait of Asperger Syndrome from the inside, told from both Adam’s point of view and those of the other members of his family.
“I have no clue why kids don’t accept me. Is my voice weird? Am I retarded? That’s how kids make me feel. I don’t like having Aspergers. I don’t like being considered different” Adam, age 12.