“The last time I directed a movie was in 2006, two years before our son Dan pierced his autism by learning to communicate by spelling. Our world was unimaginably different then. This movie, Influence, is inspired by what I’ve been learning from Dan while I’ve been teaching him these last five years. There’s nothing autobiographical in it. I made up the characters and the situation, but it is informed, to its core, by what Dan has taught me about human communication, confidence and doubt. It is about two autistic teenagers on a date who need to bring their parents along to help them communicate. The problems of parental participation are easily a match for the problems of autism. We shot it in February and I’m editing it now. It is by far my best work to date. It’s an astonishing project. Dan served as technical advisor, helping the actors who were playing the autistic kids, and helping us us all make sure that we were making sense and addressing the important and difficult questions in ways that honor them. On the first day of principal photography he spelled this to the actors: THANK YOU FOR VALIDATING MY LIFE. So the film was a success before we shot the first frame.” – Michael Bergman

Here is a clip of the movie that may be viewed using the password “spell”:

Influence Snippet from Michael Bergmann on Vimeo.