(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) >>Welcome to "A World of Difference: Embracing Neurodiversity".

I'm Darryl Owens.

Some see raccoons as nature's bandits.

These masked marauders are known for rifling through your trash cans under the cover of night, seeking to collect a big score.

But there's one raccoon on PBS Kids who's not after your castoffs.

He's capturing children's hearts instead.

Welcome to a special episode on "Carl the Collector," a groundbreaking animated series that shines a light on neurodiversity through the adventures of Carl, an autistic raccoon with a gusto for collecting.

Today, we'll explore the creative minds behind the show, hear from those whose lives it touches, and discuss the importance of representation in children's media.

We've got a lot to show you, so let's get right into it.

Zachariah OHora was already a famous children's book artist, celebrated for his unique art style.

But mix a personal experience with inclusive education with his passion for treasuring, and you've got the inspiration for a kids' cartoon series that's making a significant impact, helping neurodivergent kids see themselves in Carl's collective adventures.

For this, OHora is our latest difference maker.

(upbeat music) (bright music) >>That's where Carl sets up a bike jump, and he jumps off of here, and clears that little creek, and then ends up breaking his arm and getting a cast on it.

And then that's the location inspiration.

>>Nico, you're late.

It's 2:31.

(bike wheels whirring) (bike crashing) >>Ow!

>>When I realized I wanted to be an artist, I was in third grade.

And we had these art teachers come in, and they were all super rock and roll and they just had us do this just really basic thing, where like you put string under a piece of paper and you took a crayon, you colored over it.

And whatever I did, I don't think it was anything special.

She like went around to each desk and she picked mine up and she was all, "Hmm, you're an artist."

And she's like, "Well, when's your birthday?"

And I told her.

She's like, "Oh, you're a Scorpio.

You're definitely an artist."

And I was like, "I guess I'm an artist now."

Yeah.

My name is Zachariah OHora.

I'm a picture book illustrator and author, and also a show creator for a PBS show called "Carl the Collector."

I had this idea for a raccoon character, 'cause I'm just obsessed.

I love raccoons.

His name is Carl.

And I didn't really have a story behind Carl, but I knew that he should collect things, and I'm a collector myself, so like when I was a kid, I collected comic books, I collect records.

At this point, I probably have like 3,000 records or something like that.

It makes it a pain to move.

(upbeat music) The thing about Carl, is that even though it's an autistic character as the lead, it's not really a show about autism per se.

It's a social emotional show.

So like, it's just basic stuff that we're all learning, and we continue to learn, like how to share, and how to manage your feelings when something doesn't go your way, those kind of things.

So those are things I can pick from my own childhood, and my kids' childhood.

But when PBS came to me, they were aware of me because of my books and they're like, "Hey, if you ever have a show idea, would you be interested in developing something with us?"

And so I started to put together ideas, and sent them to them.

And we kind of landed on Carl, and they liked the character.

And at the same time, my kids were just going to school then and they go to an inclusion school.

And I didn't know what an inclusion school was.

That was a new concept to me.

So when I visited their school, I was just struck at how natural it was that there were kids with all different needs, with aids in each classroom.

And all the kids, including my own, it just normalized it.

And they just treated everybody like they were their friends.

And it was a light bulb moment for me where I was like, "Oh, this is the way it should be."

I mean, obviously it is a challenge to authentically represent neurodiverse characters, because I'm a neurotypical person.

I don't have anybody in my immediate family that I know of that is neurodiverse.

But even though that was a challenge, we wanted to make sure that we got it right.

We knew right from the beginning that we were gonna do everything we could to get neurodiverse people in all levels of the production, from the actors, anytime there's a neurodiverse character on screen, it's a neurodiverse actor that's giving the voice.

We have neurodiverse writers.

We try to do that throughout the whole production to give an authentic voice.

We've really been open to all the writers in the writer's room, like coming up with their own stories of things that happen in their life, and then we kind of build on those stories.

So those are automatically authentic, 'cause they're neurodiverse people, telling us stories from their childhood.

Another important factor that we had right away was we hired autism experts to kind of give us profiles of any character that we were showing on screen that was neurodiverse or autistic, we wanted to have kind of a cheat sheet from them that showed us, "Okay, how would this person or individual act in any given situation?"

And that was an important part of it.

One of our autism experts, Dr. Stephen Shore, is also autistic, so it's a very authentic production.

PBS really cares about authentic representation.

Seeing how across the board, everyone...

There's a lot that would like kids and parents to take away from watching "Carl the Collector."

But the main thing is like, I want them enjoy it and have fun.

We want it to be as funny and fun as possible.

But the other thing is that we hope that it spreads empathy.

Empathy for autistic kids, and the struggles that families with autistic kids go through, but also for all the struggles that every human being has.

When you're first trying to figure out who you are outside of your family pod, and you're gone into the bigger world, and it kind of provides that opening for these parents to have the conversation with a kid and destigmatizes it at the same time, normalizes it.

And that's just been, I don't know, it, And that's just been, I don't know, it, I just didn't anticipate the level that that would have that effect.

And it's been very, very touching.

(bright music) >>"Write what you know," that's dog-eared advice, often given to would-be novelists.

That advice works for television show directors too.

Ask Lisa Whittick.

As a mother of a neurodivergent son, the talented director of "Carl the Collector" brings a deeply personal perspective to her work.

Her unique perspective infuses the show with authenticity and heart.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) >>As the director of "Carl the Collector," I really spent a lot of time using my own personal experience as a mom of a neurodiverse child, as well as two neurotypical kids, and how they interact with each other to really figure out the best way to convey autism to the audience, and to people who may not understand what autism is.

I was very excited.

It was an autistic character.

I had never seen anything like that before on TV.

And then having that personal connection with my son, I thought, "Yes, we could do something really, really amazing here."

♪ Yes, it's Carl the Collector!

♪ >>We knew we couldn't just treat him like your typical animated character, right?

He's gonna have certain mannerisms, he's gonna be, he's gonna speak a certain way, he's gonna do things that maybe are a little bit different than your ordinary cartoon character.

So we had to work with the animation team to figure out how are we gonna show stimming, for example.

And stimming is when the kids are overstimulated, they have to get some energy out, so they might wiggle their fingers, or they might pace, or some autistic kids like to jump on a trampoline, for example.

Working on Carl, I have to dive into my memories of my kids.

When we had our son, our autistic son, he was a very, I would say colicky baby, he cried a lot.

He was always, it was very hard to soothe him.

He was diagnosed when he was 12, so it was later, but it was a lot of advocating for him.

There was a lot of researching and trying to figure out and calm him and say, "Look, it just means that your brain is wired differently.

You're gonna process things differently, and we're gonna work together to try and make your life as fulfilling and tailored to you as possible."

(Lisa cheering) I'm not sure how I would've been able to do the job as director if I hadn't had my personal experience here, because it is such a nuanced and subtle thing that you almost have to know what you're looking for.

So we work with some advisors from PBS, and that coupled with my own personal experience of watching my son grow up, and seeing the situations that puts him in an overwhelmed state, or an excited state, has really, really helped to kind of propel the visuals along, and make it so that we can get that across to the audience on screen.

>>Find two gallons of water, one cooler with 126 ice cubes, one pitcher, 481 grams of sugar, 20 lemons, 20 12-ounce cups, and one Sheldon.

>>Carl's friends are not all autistic.

There was one other autistic character named Lotta, but we have Sheldon, who's his best friend, and we've got Forrest, and we've got the bunny twins as well.

And none of them, they're neurotypical.

So seeing how they interact, and maybe sometimes don't understand what's happening with Carl, why is he acting this way?

I am able to pull memories from our own situation here at home and figure out how best to show that in a visual way.

We knew we had to represent autism in a way that was very respectful, and we didn't wanna speak for autistic people at all.

We wanted them to speak for themselves.

So it was at that point where we made sure we had writers on the team that were autistic, and they were telling their own stories from their own points of view.

And that has given us some of the best episodes that we have.

When we were seeking out voices for Carl and Lotta, we also wanted to make sure that we found some autistic children to play the autistic characters that we see on screen.

The mom character, she's so supportive, and tries really, really hard to help Carl through tough situations sometimes.

But she also lets him figure things out on his own.

And there are times where even she feels overwhelmed, and doesn't quite know what she should be doing.

And I like to show that part of the experience as well, because parents of autistic kids and neurodiverse kids in general, a lot of the time, you're just kind of like flying by the seat of your pants.

You don't know if you're doing the right thing, you hope you are, but it's, just to kind of let them feel seen is another huge rewarding experience for me.

With "Carl the Collector," we really are hoping that the audience can watch it and not just be entertained, because it is a really fun and entertaining show, but we also really hope that neurodiverse kids can look at the show, and either see themselves, figure out ways and strategies to help them get through certain situations, but we also really hope to help neurotypical kids understand what's happening with an autistic person, and understand how they can be the best friend that they can be to their classmates who may be struggling, or maybe need a little extra support.

Finally, I just hope that parents can see themselves, and feel represented, and understand that they're not doing this alone.

That there's a whole community of people out there who are going through the same thing that you are.

I hope anybody that needs to see it, gets to see it, and feels like they're represented.

(upbeat music) >>Can an autistic raccoon with a fondness for stockpiling find love among the elementary school set?

We traveled to Rimes Early Learning and Literacy Center in Leesburg, Florida to find out how the show resonates with its young audience.

(upbeat music) >>Have you ever heard of a cartoon character named Carl the Collector?

Today we're going to watch an episode of "Carl the Collector" together.

This is super exciting, because "Carl the Collector" is the first cartoon with a main character who is neurodivergent, just like some of our friends here at Rimes.

♪ It's Carl the Collector!

♪ It's Carl, it's Carl, >>It's really important for a show like this to happen so these children can see themselves represented in the media and for other children to see that, and to see the relationships, to see the friendships, to see the way Carl's friends were treating him like any of their other friends.

>>They were all so engaged.

You could tell that some of the students related to some of the characters.

It is rare that you find a cartoon, or a video, or a show that features a child, their main character, that has learning differences.

We are a public school that embraces all sorts of abilities and disabilities.

We encourage inclusion, we celebrate diversity.

Children learn so much from their peers and from TV, social media.

So they need all of the positive shows and character role models that's possible, so that they can see children that look and act like themselves, and that they can see ways to interact, or ways to help others that may be different.

>>This game is great, Carl.

>>Are you feeling better?

>>Yeah.

Playing with you all and telling you about my worries made me feel way better!

(children applauding) >>I have one thing in common from the main character.

We both sometimes are not organized, and I'm really not really organized, because sometimes it gets messy, then clean, messy, then clean, stuff is just all over the place.

So I'm really different from other people.

I like to craft and other people don't really like to craft and I'm really curious about stuff.

>>I like the part that he tried to take the bouncy ball out, but then all of the balls fell out.

>>I learned that it's important to share.

>>I like our friends that are different, because they can be really nice, sometimes.

>>It's very important for our students to see how different we are, but it doesn't mean that we treat them any differently.

Kids can see that not everyone is the same, but we can still all love one another, and still treat them with kindness, even though we all are all different in many ways.

>>I think just like with books, we read and have those conversations all the time, making those self-to-text connections, and text-to-text, text-to-world connections, other characters and books, or people we know in our real lives.

You could do the same thing with a show like this, like just like watching the episode today, and then having those conversations with the kids, implementing questions, asking questions to get them thinking, to have conversations, and have them make those real world connections to themselves and to students by sharing.

They can see characters and they can learn from them, they can relate to them, they can make connections to these characters, and help them not feel so different.

>>If I met Carl and his friend, I would say, "Do you wanna be friends?"

(upbeat music) >>Next, our panel of experts explores the significance of why accurate representation through shows like "Carl The Collector," and the power of inclusive storytelling is crucial for neurodivergent children.

(upbeat music) Dr. Emily Bly is a licensed clinical psychologist and CEO of Psychology Partners Group, in Westchester, New York.

She specializes in treating adolescents, adults, couples, and families with a focus on ADHD.

Dr. Bly earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate Center City College of New York, and completed her internship at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center.

She furthered her training with postdoctoral work at Columbia University's Counseling and Psychological Services.

Dr. Bly has extensive experience providing therapy to diverse clients, many impacted by neurodiversity.

Dr. Hannah Gomez is the Senior Editor for Cultural Accuracy and Sensitivity Editorial Services at Kevin Anderson & Associates.

With nearly a decade of experience, she has worked with notable authors and big five publishers, like Simon and Schuster, and Penguin Random House.

Dr. Gomez has a PhD in Language, Reading and Culture, from the University of Arizona, and has served as Adjunct Faculty at Emporia State University and Simmons University.

Her expertise spans sensitivity editing, ghost writing, and audio book proofreading, collaborating with award-winning authors.

Dr. Mary-Anne Primack is an Assistant Professor at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, America's first accredited Baccalaureate Institution dedicated to serving neurodivergent students with learning and attention issues.

She holds an ED degree and EDS in educational leadership from the University of Florida and an MS and BS in English education from Florida State University.

Her expertise includes post-secondary access, retention and success, teacher education, and support for neurodiverse students.

Dr. Primack teaches courses in educational leadership, introduction to teaching, career development, and multicultural diversity, earning respect and recognition in the field of education.

And we're gonna begin our conversation with Dr. Gomez.

So Dr. Gomez, how does positive representation of neurodivergent characters in children's media like "Carl the Collector" impact young viewers?

>>Well, exposure really is everything.

And with television especially, because it's not a movie that you see just once, because it's not a movie that you see just once, television characters you're inviting into your home every day, or every week, so they really become friends for kids.

And as a result, they start to see whoever those characters are as their friends, and then can start recognizing qualities in those characters, perhaps in their classroom, or at daycare, or in their neighbors, that sort of thing.

In the book world, we talk a lot about the concept of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors, and how we all need some books that mirror our lives back to us, and others that show us windows into other worlds.

And I think that applies to other forms of media as well.

And television especially, is that sort of sliding glass door that allows kids to walk into someone else's world and get to know them, and then it really normalizes whatever they're seeing.

>>Thank you.

So Dr. Primack, how can exposure to positive representations of neurodivergent characters like those in "Carl the Collector" influence the educational experiences of neurodivergent students as they progress through post-secondary school?

>>Well, it's really important to foster the sense of belonging for students.

It's been shown to be extremely significant, regarding access to, and retention in, and graduation from post-secondary institutions, that students feel that sense of belonging.

And shows like "Carl the Collector" foster that sense of belonging for students, so that they can feel seen and valued.

For example, in the tool collection episode, it mirrors relatable childhood challenges where Carl is seen going around, and unscrewing one screw from everywhere around the house and kind of bending those rules that his mom had set about appropriate use of his new birthday present, which was a screwdriver.

And so it's relatable, it makes people feel seen, and it fosters that sense of belonging.

And then it also builds confidence, and builds those self-advocacy skills.

So it helps them feel like they can achieve their goals.

>>So Dr. Bly, how do media portrayals of neurodivergent characters influence the self-esteem, and self-worth of neurodivergent students?

>>Sure.

So if you put yourself back in the head of childhood, you remember for a minute, imagine that you're a kid, and the period of time of childhood there, you really are trying to figure out who you are, what's normal, where you fit in, whether you're a neurotypical or a neurodivergent, right?

And you think about all the TV shows and movies that you watch.

As a neurodivergent kid, if the characters that you're seeing on the screen are always portrayed, say as the quirky sidekick, right?

Or the one who messes things up, or even worse, perhaps the villain.

That really takes a hit on your self-esteem, and makes you feel that you could never possibly be the hero of your own story.

But on the other hand, when media gets it right, it can be quite amazing.

As in "Carl the Collector," the child there is really portrayed as someone who is complex, as someone who is capable.

So it sends a really powerful message to kids that you're okay, you're valuable, you also can achieve great things, and it gives 'em positive role models, and a way of seeing themselves into the future.

and a way of seeing themselves into the future.

It's such an important role that media plays.

>>Watch the full "Ask the Experts" segment on our website at AWODTV.org if you wanna learn more about this topic.

You can also watch or listen on Facebook, YouTube, or on your favorite podcasting platform.

(gentle music) And that does it for this special edition of "A World of Difference: Embracing Neurodiversity."

I'm Darryl Owens.

See you here next time.

You can watch episodes of "A World of Difference" on the Beacon College Facebook and YouTube channels, and on the show's website, AWODTV.org.

The website also provides tip sheets and other resources for your parenting journey.

You can watch the show from the PBS app available on your favorite streaming device, and you can listen on your favorite podcasting platform.

Thank you for watching and supporting "A World of Difference."

(bright music) (bright music continues)