INTERVIEW: Miracle Project’s dedicated work inspires second HBO film, ‘Autism: The Sequel’
Photo: Autism: The Sequel revisits the work of the Miracle Project and includes the story of Neal, Elaine Hall’s son. Photo courtesy of HBO / Provided by press site with permission.
The Miracle Project, founded by Elaine Hall, has changed the lives of many children on the autism spectrum. Hall’s organization and the story of her son, Neal, who lives with autism, was the subject of Autism: The Musical, an acclaimed documentary from almost 15 years ago. The film highlighted the efforts of the Miracle Project to use the arts to expand upon the creative talents of the children who signed up and the families who often felt isolated and without a support network.
HBO and director Tricia Regan decided to get the band together again and check in with the Miracle Project and the children who are now young adults. The result of that second exploration — dubbed Autism: The Sequel — will premiere on the network Tuesday, April 28 at 9 p.m.
This is an interesting time to debut a new film. Many people are at home under quarantine orders, so there may be a large and captive audience to learn about the Miracle Project’s many worthy efforts. The coronavirus has also offered up a few curveballs to Hall and her staff at the organization.
“What we did as soon as we learned that we were going to be social distancing is within a week we were able to put up all of our classes online, so we’re reaching all of our families, from young 5-year-olds all the way up to young adults and older adults through Zoom,” Hall said in a recent phone interview. “And we’ve been really, really grateful to provide that for them so they’re not so isolated and alone. We’re also doing parent support groups, and we’re doing some meditation and mindfulness with the families. It’s completely changed, and yet it hasn’t changed. It’s one of those paradoxical responses.”
This journey to bring autism awareness to a large audience started decades ago for Hall, and she credits her many successes to the relationship she has with her son, Neal. His story is one of several profiled in Autism: The Sequel.
Hall’s original profession was serving as a TV and film acting coach. She wanted to build a family, but she was unable to give birth biologically. She decided to look toward adoption.
“I adopted a little boy from Russia where my heritage is,” Hall said. “He was 2 years old, and this was 24 years ago almost to this day. When he came to me, he spun around in circles. He stared at his hand for hours at a time. He was soon diagnosed as autistic, and I didn’t know about autism. We didn’t have the great films that are out there, like Autism: The Musical. I didn’t know. All I knew was that I wanted to connect with him like any mom.”
Hall decided to do something different, which at the time was seen as revolutionary. She wanted to rely on her skills of movement, music and drama, and then make a deeper connection with Neal.
“I connected to him by joining his autistic world, so basically if he spun in circles, I made it ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ and spun with him,” she said. “If he slapped his hands, we turned it into a dance, and we would be dancing around the room together — through connecting. Traditional therapists thought I was crazy.”
The furrowed brows didn’t stop Hall. She was able to team up with some doctors on the East Coast, all of them specialists in autism, and they supported her efforts.
“They encouraged me to keep using the art to join his world,” Hall remembers. “I began training my friends, my actor-singer-dancer friends in everything I was learning about autism to join my son Neal’s world. Basically inch by inch by inch he emerged into our world, still autistic, still not speaking, but happy, connected, joyous, creative and funny, really funny, a great sense of humor. People started coming to me and saying, ‘Can you do this with my kid?’ I started training more people how to use the arts to connect, and basically wrote a grant — beginner’s luck — got it, and now it’s known as the Miracle Project, which is a theater and film program for all abilities.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, as a developmental disability in which an individual can have social, communication and behavioral challenges. “There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people, but people with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people,” according to the official CDC website.
Getting the Miracle Project started was something of a miracle for Hall; getting the wide audience of HBO was another miracle. When the original film came out, the organization became the subject of several stories and headlines.
“The original documentary, Autism: The Musical, I say this humbly and boldly, changed the way the world perceived autism,” Hall said. “The film first came out, and it was one of the early films about autism. … So it changed people’s perspectives on what was possible for children with autism. I was not originally in the disability field at all. All I knew is we wrote original musicals. We had kids singing, dancing, acting live on stages because I didn’t know any better.”
She added: “These were children and these were families that deserved to be loved, deserved to be valued. What happened is Autism: The Musical aired on HBO, and then the United Nations asked if I could bring the film to the UN for World Autism Awareness Day in 2009. … [Now] the concept of inclusive theater has become common to universities. The Miracle Project is part of Brown University now. I’ve been to China and Argentina, all over the world, spreading this message of possibility and hope and love and talent, getting the voices out of our kids. They are able to express their inner selves and who they really are, and the world gets to see it. I truly believe Autism: The Musical made that happen.”
Now, at the tail-end of National Autism Awareness Month, Autism: The Sequel is poised to spread even more knowledge and understanding.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Autism: The Sequel, directed by Tricia Regan, features Elaine Hall of the Miracle Project and will premiere Tuesday, April 28 at 9 p.m. Click here for more information.
