The launching of this 45-minute-long film was attended by a number of parents and children with ASD, including the 12-year-old Emilio, whose paintings were highly appreciated by collectors, and Michael Anthony, a pianist.
Christine Hakim said the docudrama featuring the real lives and great potentials of the children and teenagers with ASD in greater Jakarta areas was expected to start changing the society members` misunderstanding about them.
"Until this time, the image of children with ASD remains negative. Due to poor knowledge and misunderstanding, their families also like denying the reality of life. This docudrama is expected to change the people`s perspectives on children with ASD," she said.
This UNESCO goodwill ambassador said autism was not a sort of ailment or mental retardation as agreed by psychologists and medical scientists. Instead, the children with ASD have extraordinary cognitive potentials.
With their given potentials, those children could bring good things not only for themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods but also for their country if they were treated and educated properly, Christine Hakim said.
"With this documentary film, we hope there will be no more children with ASD who are isolated and regular schools which reject them. Education is the rights of all children," she said.
Sharing Christine Hakim`s views, the film producer, Dr.Ir.Ricky Avenzora, M.Sc.F, said the children with ASD who played in the film were indeed the "hope" of Indonesia because each of them had great cognitive potentials.
"Albert Einstein himself (one of the world`s greatest scientists-ed) is an autistic person," he said, adding that this docudrama would officially be shown to public on a TV station when Indonesians commemorated the national education day on May 2, 2011.
The high prevalence of children with ASD in Indonesia could bring excellent things for the nation if their great cognitive potentials were properly handled, he said.
As part of the efforts to create a proper understanding about and new awareness of children with ASD in the society, Ricky Avenzora said the film would be shown at a number of leading universities in different Indonesian cities.
"Besides showing the film, as part of our roadshows, we also plan to hold seminars and trainings for teachers and parents, and create caring community for those with ASD in such targeted cities as Medan, Padang, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Makassar," he said.
Through the roadshows, the campus community members in Indonesia were expected to pay more serious attention to academic studies on children with ASD and start building collaborative research activities among themselves, he said.
The launching of this film was also meant to commemorate the World Autism Day, due to fall on Saturday (April 2), he said.
Gading Pluit Hospital`s Consultant Neurologist Andreas Harry who financially supported this docudrama said the film was a chance to unite a new perception of the children with ASD.
Due to the scientific quality of its content, he said he was optimistic that the film was not only significant for Indonesia but also the world community members. (*)
(T.R013/H-YH)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
