Our 39th gem is high school student and accomplished filmmaker Jack Williams. Jack is a 16 year old with autism who was functionally nonverbal until the age of 9 when he began shooting videos on his cell phone. His sudden and dramatic path to language was the subject of a 2010 documentary called “Jack and the Video Camera.” Since then, Jack’s cell phone videos have won awards at the city, county and state level.
Jack’s video productions so inspired the judges of the National Reflection Program for the Arts that, starting in 2013, they established a new division in his honor for children with special needs. Jack is the youngest film maker to ever have his work selected for The Arc “Achieve with Us” Film Festival — not once, but twice! He is also a 2012 recipient of The Arc PPR’s Achiever of the Year Award — the first time in history this award has been given to a recipient under the age of 18.
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