Anyone know of a good Asperger's movie/documentary?

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My dad is a firm believer that people don't need to be medicated and that no one has any sort of mental issues. He thinks that everyone is just different. When he first heard mention of my son (his grandson) having autism, he was not happy. He almost seemed to make a joke of it. I think a lot of the problm is that he doesn't understand what autism is or the different types of autism. From what I gather, he thinks that autism means mental incapacatation, low IQ, etc. My dad is a loving person, but he is 50 and set in his ways. Sitting down and trying to have a discussion will probably be ineffective. I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good documentary or educational film about Aspergers that I can buy and have him watch so he can get a better understanding of what it is. I'h hpoing that if he can understand what it is, he will be more supportive and willing to help out. Thanks!

I don't know of that many good documentaries about Asperger's... But Alex, the creator of this site, made one called "Autism Reality." It's short, but it's really good... It had a bunch of people on the Autistic Spectrum in it, including Temple Grandin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLOCYubVc7g
I kind of liked "Autism: The Musical," also. A lot of the parents are kind of gloomy and annoying, but it has kids from all over the spectrum.
As for movies: "Adam" and "Mozart and the Whale" both have main characters with Asperger's. "Temple Grandin" is also good(she doesn't have Asperger's, but she's high-functioning Autistic), and actually about a real person.

Temple Grandin is my favorite. I recommend that people who want to understand me watch it. Temple and I reside at the same place on the spectrum.

I have a documentary DVD called "On the Spectrum: Coping with Asperger's and Autism" that I think is pretty good. I found out about it here on WP. It covers the spectrum from childhood through adulthood using interviews with people on the spectrum, parents, teachers, therapists, etc. There's an interview with Temple Grandin. I thought it did a pretty good job of showing how varied people on the spectrum can be. As far as swaying your dad's opinion, I don't know how effective it would be.

www.onthespectrummovie.com

Well, PBS just did an episode of Arthur that's about AS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJDdg6BDXk (Part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYgN2few ... re=related (Part 2)

There's also Adam, which can be bought on DVD from Amazon.com and other sites.

Rain Man

There's a good film called Snow Cake about a HFA woman. The screenwriter's daughter is autistic.

Check out one called TODAY'S MAN
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/todaysman/

Snow Cake is about a woman with HFA.

JJay from Skins has Asperger's. There's a character on Degrassi: Next Generation that has AS. I saw a few videos on him on youtube.

Why not get him to watch Bones? If the main character doesn't have AS then I don't know who else would.

I know this is off topic, but I'm glad to see someone else thinks Dr. Brennan has AS, well, it almost seems obvious.

The Black Balloon is a film about a severely autistic teenager. There are two characters in Dear John (a child and an older man) who have autism (higher functioning/Aspie type).

If you are trying to avoid stereotypes... probably not a good idea. It's a good movie but does show the more severe and savant autistic...

Rain Man ain't severely autistic, and he displays the savant abilities that 10% of those with an ASD have, which isn't all that uncommon.

People need to be accepting of people who aren't like them, who have the same label, if they want to have the same label. I've seen many professionals state that Rain Man has AS, albeit on the more severe end of such. He's on the high end of "autism", though.

The Autistic Me, you can find it on YouTube.

Sounds a lot my father-in-law, except he was never a loving guy. Think more right wing alcoholic crackpot.

-Bill, otherwise know as Kraichgauer

Rain Man was based off Kim Peaks who was not autistic