'Inside Out': Autism Through the Eyes of a Loving Houston Father

HOUSTON - No matter how much is said, no matter how much is written, the crushing reality of autism always arrives from the blindside.

It is a life-altering challenge powerfully illustrated in the 28-minute film "Inside Out".

"This is Christian waiting for one of his favorite people, his grandpa," narrates the film's maker Adam White over images of his seemingly healthy and typical two year old son.

"This is Christian with his grandpa a month and a half later," White continues as film watchers absorb a series of black and white photos of a disinterested child with a vacant and troubling look in his eyes.

"In the following month he became more and more withdrawn. He stopped speaking entirely," White adds.

With his lens and words White proceeds to pierce the unexplainable with slivers of hard-earned understanding about autism.

As he wrestles on screen for several minutes attempting to brush a reluctant Christian's teeth, White offers this explanation.

"The inability to relieve his anxiety through conversation makes some simple tasks much less simple."

They are lessons gleaned the from the day to day, heart warm and heart break of nurturing a child who sees, feels and interprets almost everything differently.

"Minor problems can become major very quickly, leading to a tantrum. One of the signature traits of autism," White explains before a wrenching scene in which an inconsolable Christian weeps and shrieks for minute after agonizing minute as his father watches powerless to deliver comfort.

While a telling snap-shot of autism's unceasing frustration, "Inside Out" is first and foremost, a love story.

"What you miss and what the people on the inside already know is that there are highs that make the lows easy to forget," White says over touching images of his son smiling and clearly enjoying a moment of wonder.

"Inside Out" is a father's gentle crusade to share the extraordinary mind and endearing qualities of his 5-year-old-boy, forced by fate to exist within a world for which he is ill-equipped and is unlikely to ever fully embrace.

Despite the hardship and the challenge, White rejects self-pity.

"There are times when it's easy to feel sorry for yourself, but those are short-lived because at the end of the day, it's hard not to feel lucky."

There's a bracing measure of comfort in that message from, a father in the fight, to the tens of thousands like him, soon to follow.

>> See the film "Inside Out" in it's entirety

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