Asperger’s Are Us
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 – 7:30pm
USA 2016. Dir: Alex Lehmann. 82 min. Blu-ray Disc
VANCOUVER PREMIERE | Sketch troupe Asperger’s Are Us write and rehearse new material in this funny, quietly affecting documentary.
Post-screening discussion with and stand-up performances by David Granirer, comic, counselor, author, and founder of Stand Up For Mental Health (who himself suffers from depression), and Jari Wilkman and Paul Decarie, two graduates of the SUFMH program.
Co-sponsored by Stand Up For Mental Health, a non-profit that teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental health issues, giving them a powerful voice and helping to reduce stigma.
Virtual reality, live-action vérité style and docudrama combine in this teen angst story of a young boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. 
Filmmaker Lizzie Gottlieb’s brother Nicky was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, when he was 21. Although people with Asperger’s can be highly intelligent, they are unable to pick up on social cues. Subtleties of body language, facial expression, tones, or gestures go unnoticed, and their own behaviour can strike others as bizarre and inappropriate. As a small child, Nicky demonstrated amazing abilities.