SPELLERS
Available screening types
Virtual
On-demand
In-person
Available until
Jan 01, 2025
Speakers Available
Available in
Worldwide
Brought to you by
Spellers Freedom Foundation
About the film
Inspired by the book Underestimated, the new full-length documentary SPELLERS challenges conventional wisdom regarding a group relegated to society’s margins: nonspeakers with autism, who most “experts” believe are cognitively disabled. As the film opening asks, “What if we’ve been wrong…about every single one of them?” SPELLERS answers that question, in convincing fashion, through the stories of eight nonspeakers—Aydan, Evan, Sid, Maddie, Jamie, Vince, Cade, and Elizabeth—who all found their voice through the miraculous process of using a letterboard to communicate their thoughts and feelings. As Jamie explains, “we think, feel, and learn just like everyone else.”
Genre
Documentary
Runtime
1h 23m
Released
2023
Director
Pat Notaro
Executive Producer
Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Donnie Wahlberg, Dawnmarie Gaivin, Dana Johnson, Gail Tanner
Cast
Aydan Boden, Jamie Handley, Cade Larson, Vince Rinicella, Madison Hollman, Evan Tastor, Elizabeth Bonker, Sid Sarathy
Upcoming screenings
Awards & recognition
Phoenix Film Festival
Official Selection
What people are saying
‘"From the very first stencil, it’s obvious that not only are these kids brighter than the 70 IQ we’ve all been told they’re limited to, but they are far more intelligent than most of us—and I’m not pandering when I say that. These people, who are treated as if they are stupid, as if they are a burden on society, are far smarter than you and me—and they are far more perceptive, empathetic and forgiving. They have prior knowledge from topics no one bothered to teach them. Heck, no one even taught them to read, but they know how. When asked to articulate their feelings about themselves and others, they become poets."‘
Levi Quackenboss
‘I did not expect to go through the emotional ride that SPELLERS mandates of you. I literally had to take it in small doses - 20 minute at at time, to let myself process what I had just seen on the screen. Not out of disbelief - but rather out of my keen sensitivity to injustices and my penchant to fight for the downtrodden.‘
James Lyons-Weiler