Aaron Has Autism

Aaron Has Autism is a a documentary about Aaron who was diagnosed with autism when he was four. He is now in his thirties. Aaron’s family Paula, Clyde, Aiden and Levi have supported him throughout his life.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, the family moved to London in the UK in 2010, to be closer to where Aiden, their second son, was working. In 2015 they returned to Melbourne. They now live in Southbank in an apartment beside the Yarra River.

Aaron Has Autism follows the journey that Aaron and his family have taken from when the filmmakers first encountered them when Aaron was six until today. It is 7Up for Autism, if you like. The film shows Aaron’s and his family’s lives when Aaron was 6, when he was in his teens, living in London and now back in Melbourne. It covers their lives from 1989 to 2020.

The film is important because autism is a developmental disorder and there are few studies that have been able to follow one individual throughout their life.

Aaron Has Autism is a 7-Up with autism story, portraying how Aaron has grown and developed over those years. It is also about the family around Aaron, particularly the story of Paula and Clyde, whose lives have been focussed on how to support and nurture Aaron during that time. And it also portrays Aiden and Levi, Aaron’s two brothers, whose lives have also been influenced by his autism.

The film is being made by Mark Poole, the director of the first film to feature Aaron’s story, Autism – The Early Signs, produced through AFSA, the Autistic Family Support Association.  Mark produced and directed the second film, Autism – The Teen Years, produced by produced by Autism Victoria (now Amaze) which showed Aaron as a teenager. In 2012 the filmmakers caught up with Aaron and his family in London, and is now revising the family who all live in Melbourne once again.