Celebrate Autism Awareness Month at Sprout Film Festival

Celebrate Autism Awareness Month by attending the 2016 Sprout Film Festival.

To be held on Saturday, April 23, 4-6 p.m., in the Chesapeake Room at Towson University’s University Union Building (Cross Campus Drive between York Road and Osler Drive, Towson, MD), the Festival will feature entertaining and memorable short films by and about people with autism and other developmental disabilities.

This year’s Festival will include a dozen films from around the world, including:

· A Life with Aspergers, a beautifully animated documentary that explores the challenges of growing up and living with Aperbergers Syndrome;

· Love and Independence, which tells the story of Lori and her soul mate, Peter, two individuals with intellectual disabilities living, working, and thriving in their community;

· One Question, a film in which 35 people with intellectual and development disabilities answer the same question: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?

· Jimmy, a music video which uses the Radiohead song “Fake Plastic Trees” to show two kids – one of whom is “normal” and the other of whom has Down’s Syndrome – on a merry-go-round;

· Mr. Twister, which examines how a teen with autism indulges his imagination by creating characters, sculptures, and creatures from twist ties.

Hosted by The Arc Baltimore and Towson University’s Hussman Center for Adults with Autism, in conjunction with the university’s Mass Communication & Communication Studies and Electronic Media & Film, the Sprout Film Festival “provides viewers with an enjoyable and enlightening experience that will help to break down stereotypes, promote greater acceptance of differences, and increase awareness of similarities,” says Stephen H. Morgan, Executive Director of The Arc Baltimore.

Tickets for the Sprout Film Festival are $5 (free for Towson University staff, students, and faculty, as well as The Arc staff accompanying individuals with disabilities). Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the event or in advance by calling the Towson University Box Office, 410-704-2244.

Free parking will be available on-site at the Union Garage, which is on Cross Campus Drive, attached to the University Union Building. There is also a mobility drop off on the loop, which is off Osler Drive next to the Union Garage. An accessible path to the University Union is on the lower level of the Union Garage.

About The Arc Baltimore

Dedicated to providing advocacy and high quality, life-changing supports since 1949 in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, The Arc Baltimore supports more than 6,000 adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. As one of the nation's largest and most respected organizations of its kind, The Arc Baltimore is an indispensable resource, providing employment training and support, day and residential services, family support and education, treatment foster care, respite care, public policy advocacy and information, and referrals. For more information, visit www.thearcbaltimore.org or call 410-296-2272.