(paper slicing and tearing) (ephemeral music) (birdsong) (tractor rumbling) - Hi, Chris.

- Why did we take out one of our clutches?

- Oh, that one, it's one of the first ones I made.

I've been working hard to fill the inventory.

I've made about 100 purses.

That's way slower than I should be.

I used to be able to make 20 a week.

I mean, this thing was full, but I just can't do the wire wrapping and the sewing of the buttons anymore.

I am slowing down.

- So we're pretty much just probably go to a robot that can do the wire wrapping, so it's just... (Kathleen laughing) ...it would just wind, wind.

- You are too sarcastic, Chris.

There's no robot gonna do that.

I'm the robot.

(Chris laughing) (gentle music) - I'm different in a way, but I get to know stuff and do stuff that I don't think I would've been able before.

She needed more help.

She asked me something, "Hey, do you want to make some price tags?"

- [Kathleen] What started with just me thinking of a way to keep myself busy and make a little money turned into a family business where everybody has a part in it.

- [Dennis] She showed me how to do it and, surprisingly enough, I picked up on it.

She calls me her "book boy" and her "book binder."

- We have to be able to work as a team and we have to set up the end game.

(shoppers chattering) They all come with a book so you can read your purse.

The goal is saving all the books.

- [Vendor] Curt is good.

- I have to say my favorites out of all of them are these two.

- [Vendor] Chris, it's funny.

I though you were gonna like those.

- Yeah, I like them.

- That's a great ring on you, man.

- [Chris] Yeah.

Gonna give you one back I already bought before.

- No problem.

- I love that seahorse.

- Thank you.

- All right.

So 26, 323, 95.

Last year, I sold $4,700 at this show.

This year, I sold $965.

The profits that we make will be going towards Chris's future for him to live on his own because, otherwise, the options are pretty grim.

We're gonna have to monitor this, because it's kind of scary.

- From time to time, I worry about my future, what they're gonna do when maybe they can't be here or when the business ends.

- And?

- Could probably use half or maybe a medium.

(gentle music) - [Kathleen] I happened to have grown up in the smallest town in Union, Connecticut.

We did not have TV in Union, so I had books.

And the books is actually where I hid.

While all the drama was going on in my house, I read hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of books.

I make little corners, not quite so sharp, because books' spines are very fragile.

I think I always wanted to be a mom so I could do it better.

And I did.

I got married and I had my two older boys.

When I got divorced, I wrote this little mission statement.

I just wanted to have an equal that would consider my feelings and allow for them to be there.

Hi there, dear.

What you doing?

- Not much.

- [Dennis] Kathy and I weeighbors as children.

We were just not close friends.

20 years later, we each met again in our town of Union and kind of fell in love from there.

- [Officiant] You may kiss the bride.

(Kathleen and Dennis laughing) (audience cheering) (audience applauding) - [Kathleen] We'll put it on for 14 and then we'll check 'em.

- [Chris] So welcome back to our cooking show.

- You could start making your little biscuits over there.

- Mm-hm.

- [Dennis] Thank you.

Mm, that one's good.

- Hmm?

Why, thank you.

I stayed up all night making the dough base, so it can rise and all that.

(Kathleen laughing) - You did an excellent job there, Chris.

- At least someone thanks me for all the hard work I did.

(Kathleen and Dennis chuckling) - There's our kissies.

Kissy, kissy, kissy.

(imitates kiss) - Yeah.

(Dennis chuckling) - I think we missed.

There's all the hospital pics.

I was 41 years old, and I had my little baby boy.

- [Dennis] It's Christian.

(Kathleen laughing) - [Kathleen] Christian exhibited what would become his disability.

- [Dennis] Christian, daddy's taking a picture of you.

- Oh yeah?

- [Dennis] Can you wave to Grammy?

- He had delays.

So he didn't walk.

He didn't talk.

He gurgled a lot.

He didn't get the official diagnosis till he was like 10 or 11.

- I'm on the autism spectrum.

For my childhood in schools, completely crazy from the start.

And I needed more than what they gave.

- [Kathleen] He was the only kid in the school that was considered autistic.

And as he got older, that's when he started to act out violently.

He was punching things, grabbing things, banging his head against the wall, in restraints at school because he would act out.

That's when the psychiatrist was brought in, and that's when they gave him Zoloft.

And it worked for a little while.

A drug, at 11, that strong, really shouldn't be given to a kid that little.

It made him angrier and suicidal and dangerous.

He was the only one like that.

So they concentrated all their efforts on making him like everybody else.

And it just got worse.

- [Christian] I was 15 going to, I think, eighth grade summer school.

(melancholy music) - Christian got angry one day while we were having lunch and didn't follow his protocol of writing down what made him mad.

And instead he took the pen and he banged it on the counter like this, and it went into his eye and he stabbed himself in the eye with a pen.

- I was just seeing like bright colors.

(tea kettle whistling) But sooner or later, it started just to get darker and darker.

And then it was just like at this point.

- From there he had several eye operations.

But it never stayed.

Finally, he had to get a false eye, prosthetic eye.

- Then after that, I never went to the high school because I got sent to High Road Student Learning Center.

- And the town finally agreed to send him to High Roads, and they have to pay it, because they had no people here experienced at all.

- That's the school that saved me from this just completely out-of-control person to someone that I am today.

- And after that, I started my business.

A real book has a lot of value, and it doesn't have to be thrown away.

I wire wrap them because this is real 20-gauge wire, and it isn't gonna break off.

There's not a lot of time left.

Our first show is the 15th of March.

(plastic crinkling) - [Christian] Before a show, I feel excited.

These shows are a place where you can be accepted for who you are.

- [Dennis] I guess this is it, guys.

- [Kathleen] Yep.

Okay.

- Now that I'm 76, the books do get heavier.

Fortunately Christian is helping out more.

Chris, can you help here?

(shoppers chattering) - [Chris] I've though of maybe continuing the business.

- [Vendor] Well, hopefully it's a good weekend.

- Tell me about it.

First show of the year, so let's hope so.

- Right.

Same here.

Same here, dude.

How long have you been doing it?

- 13 years.

- [Vendor] Good for you.

- It's helped me a lot, but also it's just like- - [Vendor] It's tiring.

It gets tiring.

- I have that community I can still go to, to where I'm not, you know, going through it alone.

- [Dennis] What are we thinking for Christian's future is a good question.

I think about that almost every day.

When I can't find one, I call Kathy.

She finds it for me.

- But it's got to be here somewhere.

The options would be a group home where he's monitored, and they can't leave on their own.

If there was a good one around, there isn't at the moment that I can find.

- Could he live on his own?

Some of his friends are living on their own, and they seem to be doing okay.

- But Christian needs company.

Those are the only options we have in the state.

(gentle music) - [Dennis] This is your own child, your own flesh and blood, and he needs other people.

And what the shows give him is those other people.

And he needs more of that.

- [Kathleen] If we can get through the year, break even, or make a small profit, what we can do to make things better for Chris is the most important part of everyday life.

(sewing machine whirring) (hair clippers buzzing) (gentle music) - I want to live my life happy, but also in a way where I'm not like overly, I would say, dependent omeone.

But also 'cause of all my disabilities, I don't know if I could live alone.

(gentle music continues) - We've always had to make huge decisions, because nothing's been easy.

The hardest part is to not rush anything or to worry yourself to death, because we have to still make progress in what we're doing at the moment.

- And that's a finished price tag.

I'm just trying to think of like what parts I could do.

Maybe do some hot glue try doing buttons.

But the hardest parts are probably the things that have to use depth perception or gauging how far I am away from it.

You're getting water all over you.

- I'll live.

Okay.

Okay, you got your Kleenex, your face cloth, okay?

- Geezus.

- [Kathleen] I guess it's been a long day for you.

- [Christian] You said relax.

- Yeah, that's not quite it.

Sit up, please.

Don't make this so hard.

Okay.

He's good to go.

- Why I like playing video games?

To meet people, talk to people, just have fun.

(hopeful music) I can actually be myself in a game in a sense, because my character's blind in one eye.

I can actually still connect in a way.

- [Television] Say you woke up in a world full of bigger machines.

(birds chirping) - [Christian] My father, he can be a bit stubborn at times, but he is also kind.

My mom is patience.

She has helped me a lot.

- Whole point is to have it stay, protect this beautiful color forever and ever.

- My parents are easily the most important people in my life.

Without them, I don't know where I would be.

(camera shutter clicking) Sure stuff might be harder for me at times, but I just have to live my life the way I can.

And do you see the back of those?

- Mm-hm.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- We make them out of the epic monster card so you can actually play with it.

They all come with the book so you can read the purse.

You're welcome to come in.

(gentle music fades) (pensive music)