The worst thing about Autism: The Musical is the title, which suggests a cheesy Disney channel movie that will cause viewers to vomit in their mouths. Fortunately, the title misrepresents a surprisingly sensitive documentary about the disorder, following a group of autistic children and their parents as they attempt to mount a musical. But the movie isn’t really about the musical — instead, the filmmakers focus on five children and their families, capturing the challenges and tribulations of raising an autistic child.

Director Tricia Regan does a remarkable job of unobtrusively filming human drama and drawing remarkably candid comments from her subjects. While the overall message is optimistic, most of Regan’s footage displays the difficulties that autism creates. None of the adults are presented as perfect, but merely loving parents struggling to raise their children. More importantly, the kids themselves are thankfully not sentimentalized; some are functional and able to participate as interview subjects, while others are barely able to articulate their thoughts.
Ultimately, the film feels a little slight because the musical that acts as the framing device and concludes the story is easily the weakest part, and the show is burdened with the same condescending attitude towards autism that the filmmakers nobly avoided. What should be an emotional climax feels more like an excuse to end the movie. This project would have been more intriguing had Regan dropped the musical aspect, but then that movie probably would have been unmarketable and gone unreleased. Despite its shortcomings, Autism: The Musical is still an honest portrayal of the affliction — and offers a real-life alternative to Rain Man.