- [Announcer] Promotional support provided by Edible Jersey, a quarterly magazine and online publication celebrating the local food of the Garden State for 15 years.

Learn more @ediblejersey.com.

[cheerful music] - [Interviewer] New Jersey has some of the highest autism rates in the country.

Exactly why is up for debate.

Genetics?

Pollution?

Or is it the fact that the state conducts more research and offers more support for these communities than anywhere else in the country.

Regardless of the why, the question of what remains.

What is the future for these young adults as they age out of government provided programs and resources.

Back in March, I met with two organizations, run by moms who are filling a big void in this community to provide not just jobs, but purpose to dozens of our handy capable neighbors.

As well as another mom, who's teaching other moms and their kids how to fish.

- [Interviewer] When you think of superheroes, who do you think of?

Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman.

But the real heroes, the real heroes live among us and they're stationed in Red Bank, New Jersey.

I've been invited to the No Limits Cafe by a group of heroes to become an honorary member.

But first I have to pass initiation.

[upbeat music] The No Limits Cafe is the only restaurant in New Jersey that primarily hires people with intellectual disabilities.

New Jersey has one of the highest rates of autism in the United States.

But the options for adults with autism are slim.

Mark and Stephanie Cartier, the founders of the No Limits Cafe had no prior restaurant experience.

Nothing, nada.

But inspired by their daughter Katie, they created a workplace that let people with disabilities thrive.

- [Stephanie] We were trying to think of something when we started this that all of our employees can come together each day and be together in some sort of comradery.

So that's how the dance party started.

- So why a restaurant?

Why not a general store, retail?

Why a restaurant?

- In Monmouth county there are, we knew there are a lot of people in the same boat as Katy with an intellectual disability and no job.

- They said there's a way for us to employ a large number of people, number one.

Number two, what we'd Like to do is to train people to work in other restaurants.

- People with intellectual disabilities wanna work, but this was the only job they could get.

And they love working in a restaurant.

- There are so many jobs to do in a restaurant.

We have employees back there right now chopping, there's dicing.

We have every recipe in this, in the house that we could possibly make from scratch, we do.

- [Stephanie] It's been really good to see what they can do their potential and to show people.

They can do what you and I can do.

They just might need a little more time or a little more help.

- [Interviewer] One of Mark and Stephanie's first hires was Kali, their chef.

He hadn't worked in a kitchen for years, but Stephanie knew he was the right man for the job.

- How can I tell the workers go ahead, you can do it, believe in yourself.

If I don't believe in myself.

It's been a life changing experience for me.

- Well, I didn't come here just to talk, put me to work.

My first assignment, avocado crema with Matt.

Who's been here since the beginning.

- You got the skills.

- I try, I'm trying to keep up with you Matt.

So keep up.

[rhythmic guitar] - [Interviewer] Four avocados, tablespoon of kosher salt already ready to go.

Mise en place, love it.

- A cup of garlic oil.

All that flavor.

- Don't wanna waste a drop.

- Nah, don't waste a smidge either.

They want that flavor.

They want that taste.

- [Interviewer] The moment of truth.

- [Matt] Yes, it is.

- Okay.

- Taste the crema.

[gentle music] - [Interviewer] That's some good avocado crema.

That lime moose is coming through, perfect salt.

Tang from that sour cream.

Excellent!

Now your nice job.

Thanks Matt.

- Glad you loved it, man.

- [Interviewer] Two years after opening, No Limits is a well garlic oiled machine.

Their young business is blossoming and so are their employees.

What is the change that you've seen in them?

- Increased confidence, increased ability to communicate, increased ability to advocate for themselves.

I've seen how those, what are called soft skills are really the life skills that we need.

- [Interviewer] Soft skills are integral to landing a job.

Whether that be taking a phone call using a POS system or pumping out hundreds of lunches for big companies in the area, huge companies like Amazon.

- I mean, Amazon's big!

Like that's huge.

And that was really something that was affirming to us.

- [Interviewer] Amazon employs over a million people in the country and they chose the No Limits Cafe to serve lunch at their Carteret fulfillment site.

Tyler and Kaylee, two forces not to be reckoned with, pack, organize, serve, and work the credit card machine like pros.

What started as a one off as part of Amazon's affinity and inclusion program has boomed into a weekly catering gig for the mom and pop.

What did I tell you?

Super.

But if you wanna meet a superhero in the flesh, look no further than Tommy, the man responsible for No Limit's signature press sandwiches.

- Hi Tommy.

- Hello.

- So what goes into a Cuban sandwich, Tommy?

- Okay, John.

- Oh, you're doing an abstract art, okay.

I got it, Swiss cheese.

- [Tommy] Three slices on each bread.

When it comes to the ham, it goes half.

- [Interviewer] You're pro.

Fresh pickles, how many?

- [Tommy] Six.

- [Interviewer] Six?

Tangy.

- And that's it.

- Here comes the butter.

Lord have mercy.

And how much time before we eat?

- Five or six minutes, it's good.

There's a lot of meat in there.

- [Interviewer] I don't know if I can wait five minutes, Tommy, I'm hungry [laughs].

Sometimes it takes standing over a hot griddle to really get to know a person.

- [Matt] Yeah, I do wrestling on the side.

- So you really are like in the ring, like throwing people.

- [Matt] I'm a manager right now.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Matt] I go by the name of Meat Missile.

- Meat Missile?

'Cause you be throwing meat on the grill.

So what's the best part about working here?

- The positivity.

Everything's positive here.

- [Interviewer] They all told me about you.

I think you bring the positivity too.

So this is the moment of the truth.

[high energy rock music] - Tommy, the butter.

Those pickles, oh my God.

- [Interviewer] Mark and Stephanie's set out to prove that people with disabilities are just as capable of running a restaurant as you or I.

Maybe even better.

Tasting their food I'm convinced.

Unlike other intellectual disabilities or even mental illness.

Autism is in a class of its own.

There's still no set 'cause or cure for autism.

Some say it's the environment or the pollution in the water we drink or the air we breathe.

But for many living with the challenges of autism, they've also been given remarkable gifts from the ability to retain information, strong visual and auditory learning skills, and excelling in subjects like math, art, or music.

Just a mile down the road from the No Limits Cafe.

I'm heading to a farmstead that's putting these superpowers to good use, engaging with the land the way our forefathers did.

Situated on the shores of the Navesink River, Red Bank hosted revolutionary war battles and was an ideal outpost for prominent families and wartime leaders.

Leaders like Marque de Lafayette.

He was one of the unsung heroes of the revolutionary war.

Fast forward 250 years and we have another revolutionary hero.

Mai Cleary helps people with intellectual disabilities discover their independence.

This mother of four had a front row seat to these challenges, raising her son, John, who is autistic.

Before she shows me the grounds this city boy had to put on his boots.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

A beautiful day at Oasis.

Oasis TLC that is Oasis Therapeutic Learning Center is so historic Lafayette himself has actually stayed here.

They built an entire ballroom dedicated to him and today the residents are hard at work prepping for traditional high tea.

Why is work like this so beneficial to individuals with autism?

- [Mai] It's tangible work so you can understand why you're doing what you're doing.

There's a lot of natural sensory experiences that help integrate their nervous system.

And there's just a lot of varied activities as well, which keeps everyone's interests.

So they're constantly engaged in some kind of activity and Tony has said, our adult with autism, I love this quote, "That engagement is the opposite of anxiety."

- So are we gonna have to milk up some goats?

- Yes, let's go see Marshmallow.

Hey Marshie.

- Hi.

- [Mai] She's one of our best ones to learn on.

Students get a break at lunchtime and they get to choose a leisure activity.

Leisure activities are tough for people with autism.

So some of 'em will just go out and sit with the goats.

- Wow!

- And there's the milk.

- Fresh, you did great Marshmallow.

You did great.

[goat bleats] - [Mai] Here she comes.

- [Interviewer] But how do these raw materials, goat's milk, eggs, wheat, vegetables become an elegant high tea service.

Well, it all starts with the bread.

- There's a fire in there.

We're baking the bread for today.

The tea sandwiches will have this fresh bread that was made out here.

Everything at the tea we want to come from the farm.

- [Interviewer] I think the bigger question is, is there anything you guys don't do.

Word on the street is that Brian, a resident at Oasis has a superpower.

He can make the perfect scone.

- [Brian] I'm making chocolate chip strawberry scones.

- Chocolate chip and strawberry scones.

Now I'm just gonna say, if these are better than mine, we might have a problem.

- [Interviewer] Residents at Oasis, do everything from food and drink preparation, to hosting and serving.

- Enjoy your meal.

- [Interviewer] They even made all the paintings you see on the walls.

So Kevin, how long have you worked here?

- So this is my fourth year of me coming to Oasis and this is my third year of being a resident at Oasis.

I usually do the goats and I like outside work better when it's not nice outside.

I do like inside work like homesteading or weaving.

All kinds of things.

- [Interviewer] I gotta say, Kevin, you are multi talented.

You gotta teach me how to make a scarf.

- [Brian] I will.

- [Interviewer] Tony is the most experienced resident here and he's joining me and Mai for tea as well as Mai's husband, John Cleary, the Alfred to her back end.

- She works constantly and I never work.

So it balances out pretty well.

- No, that's not true.

- [Tony] And then of course you have me the essence of sanity.

- So tell me how it's been living with autism.

- The word autism didn't exist until I was in my mid 40's It was not a good seed.

I mean, I was referred as an idiot savant so then they renamed me Autistic Savant but I don't know whether that's that good because at least with Idiots Savant my friends could say, well, you know, he's one of those two things.

And I just realized, you know, I'm sitting here eating while I'm talking.

- [Interviewer] What's so special about all this food is that so much of it was made right here on the farm.

The cheesecake is out of this world and the scones, I hate to admit it, but they might be better than mine.

Oh my God.

This is excellent.

Light, flavorful, not too sweet its like, - Yeah.

- Perfect.

The tea service just like every week is a big success.

- We thought the tea service would be a good way to teach food service and preparation because we're growing the food and then bringing it to the table and sharing it with the community.

- How important is this community aspect to someone with autism?

- Yeah, it's irreplaceable.

There's nothing like it.

- The higher functioning kids we've hired them back to help out with the lower functioning kids.

My son, John helps one of the other students Nick, through his morning routine.

Nick was much more comfortable with it.

John takes it incredibly seriously and gets an tremendous boost to his self esteem about how much he's helping Nick.

And so it's really been this beautiful dynamic that's emerged, that we didn't anticipate when we started the program at all.

- It works better than us telling them what to do.

The neuro typical people as Tony would call us.

- [Interviewer] But don't let their modesty fool you.

These folks are the definition of selfless.

What they do, what they're willing to do, and what they plan to do in the future is nothing short of heroic.

- Not just helping 24 people or 22 people.

They're helping their parents and their siblings and their grandparents, a number that quickly mushrooms to over 200 people.

So now our next mission is to get other groups and share all of our materials or curriculum.

Everything with them.

- This place has, you know, safe to say has changed lives.

To be honest, what would these lives look like if Oasis didn't exist?

- If you wanna know what's it like to have autism, everything is hard.

If anyone now, ever treated an autistic person, the way I was treated, you know, they'd be in jail you know, or their kids would be taken away or something like that.

Most of us died in our mid 20's, you know?

- From what?

- Suicide.

- [Interviewer] But John and Mai have created a sustainable alternative.

They've given their residents meaningful work, community, and a high tea service that would even give Queen Elizabeth a run for her money.

- The schedule is really important to people with autism, knowing what they're gonna be doing and when they're gonna be doing it.

People with autism have trouble sleeping so if you're outside all day and working outdoors, you can really get a better night's sleep which helps everything.

- To answer the biggest question, yes the scones are better than mine.

- [Mai] Okay.

[Mai laughing] - I'll admit it, Brian won.

What can I say?

- I'll tell him.

- So if there is one word to describe Oasis, what would it be?

- Do you have one word Tony?

- Home.

- Nice.

- Never had a home until I came.

- [Interviewer] Oasis is such a clear example of how important it is to be self-sufficient and reconnect with the land that provides for us.

On the other side of the state I'm meeting with another heroic woman creating a community based around new Jersey's natural resources.

- [Liz] My personal goal is definitely to darken the woods.

Just get some more people of color out there, enjoying these resources that you know, we are here to benefit from as well as everyone else.

And we shouldn't wait for a personal invitation.

- [Interviewer] Fisher woman, Liz Jackson is my guide today.

She heads up HOFNOD, which stands for Hooked On Fishing Not On Drugs, a program that teaches at-risk kids how to fish.

And she just created Sisters Of Field, a new fishing program that teaches moms and their kids how to fish.

The fishing we know today can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where they used hooks, rods, and nets to catch fish from the Nile.

And still today it's a way to commune with nature.

Earn your meal and work for your protein.

I'm ready to get started.

But first, a few necessary public service announcements.

- When it comes to fishing and bringing it home for food, it matters where you get the fish from.

- [Dr. Zambrano] As a pediatrician, one of the things that I hone in from middle schoolers up through 21, the patients that I see it is so important to have a hobby.

If they don't, what happens when they're teenagers, 20's?

You get high, you get drunk or you have sex with anything that moves because those become the hobbies that release stress, those aren't hobbies, okay.

Fishing is something you can take with you your whole life.

- [Interviewer] All very good points, very educational.

Risque even.

All right Dr. Zambrano time to fish, right?

[funky rock music] [record screech] - Nope, not quite.

- [Woman] Have you fished before rookie?

- No, I've, never fished before my uncle was gonna take me out once I got up at 5:30 in the morning and he stood me up.

[woman gasps] I should have known then that was a foreshadowing of my personal life, [women laughs] but it's fine.

This is my first time so I'm excited to see how it all goes, thank you.

- And then here is your Fishing 101 Kit.

- Look at me starting to fish.

- [Liz] There you go!

- I'm ready for it.

Okay, now it's time to fish, right?

[funky rock music] [record screech] - Guess not.

But I'm learning a valuable lesson about the art of fishing, patience.

- So we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna get your rod set up.

This is a wonderful rod for beginners.

This is like a no brainer rod.

- This is a training wheels rod?

- This is a training wheels rod, I guess.

Once you get into fishing more, you might wanna go based on your height, right?

How tall are you?

- You look like five seven.

- Oh, five ten, okay - Five seven!

How dare you.

- I'm bad at that.

- Oh my God.

- [Liz] These rods are made out of different things.

Graphite, fiber glass, either way it's very, very rough to get it inserted in there right?

So we need a little lubricant.

But [interviewer laughs] But if you're- - Okay, this just took a dark turn for PBS, okay.

- If you're out in the field where you get lubricant from?

Where do you have naturally occurring oils in order to lubricate this so that you can insert it into there?

- My skin.

- Your skin, where's the oiliest place on your body?

- My face?

- [Liz] Thank you, see.

- I mean, I am little, I feel like I am little shiny right now.

Absolutely, so all right.

- [Liz] To make oil, to be able to easily insert it.

- All right, hopefully that's enough.

- Yeah, that should be good.

I can even tell by what it looks like now that's, there you go.

- Good oily skin.

- Perfect.

- So we're fishing, dermatology and a physics lesson.

- There you go.

- All in one?

- All in one.

- Okay.

- So fishing is a holistic activity.

- Do you find that kids take pretty well to fishing?

- Yeah, the kid gets that first fish.

They are literally hooked.

- [Interviewer] Okay Liz, let's get to the water.

After my goody bag of course.

What's in this thing anyway?

- Once you're ripping earthworms in half or handling live bait, you'll be grateful for this.

'Cause then you're not like.

- I was gonna say there's no, there's no sink by the water.

- It's called the pond.

- Is this lip balm?

ChapStick?

- Yes it is.

- Even on the water lips must look good.

- Absolutely.

- You don't know who you'll run into on the water.

- Never.

- There might be somebody cute, you say.

- You don't know.

- We have our Freshwater Fishing Digest.

- How do you get on the cover of Freshwater Digest?

You know?

I'm trying to build my brand here.

- You know what it starts here today.

- It starts with that.

- It starts with that.

- Okay, I'm ready.

- I need to be- ♪ Casting, casting, ♪ - There you go.

You're gonna come right here.

- We're on grass.

- Casting or practice casting on grass is best because there's no tall trees around here.

There's nothing except the will of you to- - Will of me?

- Yeah the will of you.

- So I'm not?

Whooosh.

- Correct.

- It's just woo woo.

It's 10 o'clock, two o'clock.

- All right, so 10 o'clock?

- Yeah.

- Two o'clock.

- Tadaa!

As a first time, that was phenomenal.

- Oh, you know, I'm always going for the gold star.

- There you go.

- Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!

- You got it!

Pop the tip, nice catching.

- Thank you, let's do the real thing.

- I was gonna say.

- [Interviewer] Finally, time to fish, but not before a little walk and talk.

Now you have been running this thing for almost 10 years.

- Yep.

- What has, what has been the impact?

- All of those kids have been engaged in learning about fishing, appreciating aquatic, and other natural resources while developing positive life skills over multiple sessions with the same adult.

Nurturing relationships.

That's an impact, because it's an experience that these kids are going to remember.

You know, getting kids out, showing them another way, giving them constructive alternatives to doing nothing, an idle mind or hands, you know, can be the devil's playground.

- So this is my way of paying it forward.

That's what I'm saying.

- Paying it forward.

- Pay it forward.

- So you ready?

Here we are.

- All right.

- [Liz] Push that up.

- Wanna get it again?

- Oh okay, It's a worm kebob, got it.

And remember just keep a little arc away from you.

Don't pull it directly over your head.

Beautiful cast.

- This is, you know, a good time for meditation.

- Absolutely.

Zen.

- You know, question my life choices.

- Get some sun.

- That Vitamin D. - Hope you have some sunblock.

- I know, you know, it hits home for you.

This Hook On Fishing, Not On Drugs, your personalize life has been filled with it.

Can you tell me a little bit about it?

- I'm a prime example of what the program is about.

When I was growing up in Harlem, I'm in the 60's, heroin was a big thing.

And you know, unfortunately, a lot of my family members suffered from drug addiction.

My parents sent me to summer camp the entire summer.

I love that experience.

Getting away from the chaos.

I think that's why I'm I'm here today.

Tip up, tip up, tip up, keep reeling.

[upbeat music] - Keep going!

[fishermen cheering] - [Interviewer] Wow!

[excited gasp] - Oh, now that's a nice, big- - You wanna get net?

- [Interviewer] No one is more shocked that I caught a fish than me.

I don't break the fourth wall for most things, but for this large mouth, I'll make an exception.

- [Liz] And that's a perfect hook, right in the jaw.

That's your dinner, dDon't name it.

- [Interviewer] Can I take- - [Liz] Never name your food.

- Not even Burt.

- No, you know this being your first fish, right?

The custom is that we kiss the fish.

[record screech] - Now I know what that ChapStick was really for.

Pucker up Burt.

[hesitant sigh] [lips kissing] - [Liz] Oh, that was just such a beautiful kiss.

[both laughing] - [Interviewer] The things I do for viewership.

- [Liz] You got dinner.

- [Interviewer] We got dinner.

- [Liz] That's step one, get dinner.

- [Interviewer] All right so what's step two.?

- So the first thing we wanna do is to humanely kill our fish.

So I'm gonna float this knife on this side, then we're gonna flip it and then you're gonna do it on the other side.

So we have filet, now we're just gonna take it off the skin.

Are you ready to do your side?

- I surely am not, but we're gonna do it anyway.

- Why not?

- I need another gold star.

- That's looking really good.

- [Interviewer] There we go.

- [Liz] Perfect.

So what we wanna do is just have our filets kind of submerged.

If you wanna peel our ginger.

- Okay.

- [Liz] All right, so I'm gonna take all of my vegetative matter, ramps that I harvested yesterday on my way home.

- Now, what are ramps?

- So ramps, it's people refer to them as wild leak.

The whole plant is edible.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Liz] Just a couple of squirts of my fish sauce.

Why don't you sprinkle a little pepper in there.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

And are you a measure or you're just like, how are you feeling?

- [Liz] I'm an eye baller, yeah.

- [Interviewer] How'd you come up with this recipe?

- When I went to China, it was the fourth world conference on women.

And they sent me and a bunch of other ladies- - [Interviewer] Wow.

- To China for that conference.

So we came across this restaurant.

It was the first time that I had poached fish, the best fish I have ever eaten.

It was divine and this is how they did it.

And I've been making it like this since 1995.

- [Interviewer] Do you need dill?

- [Liz] Yeah, so go ahead and sprinkle a little bit of the dill in there and then just kind of eyeball that sesame oil in there.

And then my surprise ingredient is, I made for you last night homemade ramp butter.

- [Interviewer] For me?

- Yes, like not take butter and add ramps to it.

But I started out with heavy cream.

- I feel really appreciated right now.

- And there it is.

It's lightly salted.

We're just gonna kind of latter- - Smear.

- It on, that's what we're gonna do.

- [Interviewer] Smear it, smear it, Oh my goodness.

- [Liz] It's really hard to get it dry when it's poached.

You first.

- Me first.

- [Liz] If you're still standing in five minutes, then I'll try.

[both laughing] - It smells really good.

- Did we knock it out the park?

Is it a gold star?

- This is a gold star.

- [Liz] That's a gold star.

- This is a gold star.

This ramp, Wow.

Liz stepped in, Mai remind us that empowerment is everything.

There is no telling what you can do when you're given the right tools and the opportunity.

And like these three incredible moms and my new hero friends, there's only one way to do it without any limits.

- So I'm just like, you know, chicken.

[chicken chirping] Chicken, I'm trying, what?

Yes I did [laughs] You know, and he got, he disappears and he comes back and it's a live chicken and he's holding it by the wing and then- - [Interviewer] You are lying- - Like looking at me and doing like this.

And I'm like, I'll have the fish.

[both laughing] - [Announcer] Promotional support provided by Edible Jersey, a quarterly magazine and online publication celebrating the local food of the Garden State for 15 years.

Learn more @ediblejersey.com.