Nurturing artistic talent in children with autism. A conversation with Hana Makki

In this podcast, film maker Hana Makki revisits her memories of making the documentary film ‘As one: The Autism Project’ working with ten children with Autism and their families. The film project was supported by Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the daughter of the crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in an effort to raise awareness about ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’ in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over the course of ten weeks, these children made a musical show working alongside a specialist team of musicians, and performance artists, with the guidance of an Applied Behaviour Analysis therapist. The children come from various nationalities including the United Arab Emirates, Philippines, U.S.A, Palestine, UK, Ghana, India, and Ethiopia. Hana captured the journey of these children while rehearsing, till the night of the musical show, and also shares with the audience what happened to them afterward.

Read the accompanying blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/09/13/film-review-x-y/