Imagine a world where words taste and thoughts feel, where sounds swell with color and leaves on trees change tones visible to the naked eye, where eye contact with another can cause physical pain. This world, both beautiful and overwhelming, exists for those in the film “Spectrum: A Story of the Mind.” The first documentary to explore autism as sensory-based experiences, presenting the positive advantages and difficulties of perceiving the world differently. Featuring Dr. Temple Grandin, the film highlights the need for research on sensory issues.

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Jonah Bascle was an unconventional mayoral candidate, even by New Orleans standards: artist, comedian, disability-rights activist. Born with muscular dystrophy, Jonah raced against mortality throughout his twenties. Combining humor, political action, and a sense of urgency, Jonah Stands Up challenges stereotypes associated with differently-abled individuals in New Orleans.

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A village woman without a high school diploma has become China’s most famous poet. Meet the breakout writer Yu Xihua, a woman with cerebral palsy, poignantly weaving her personal story with that of an ascendant, urbanizing China.

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Parents of teens on the autism spectrum form a competitive swim team, training them with high expectations. Follow the rise of three athletes as the film captures a moving quest for inclusion, independence and a life that feels like winning.

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This is the intimate and revealing story of Stephen Hawking’s life. Told for the first time in Hawking’s own words and with unique access to his home and public life, this is a personal journey through Hawking’s world. The audience joins him at home, under the care of his nursing team; in San Jose as he “wows” a packed theatre audience; in Silicon Valley as he meets a team of technicians who hope to speed up his communication system; and as he throws a party for family and friends. HAWKING also carefully tells Hawking’s life journey, from boyhood under-achiever to PhD genius, and from a healthy cox on the Oxford rowing team to diagnosis of motor neuron disease, given just two years to live yet surviving several close brushes with death. The film also highlights his greatest scientific discoveries and plots his rise to fame and superstardom.

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