Talking back to autism

Margret Dagmar Ericsdottir explores the hotly debated topic of autism in her documentary film “A Mother’s Courage”, debuting on HBO April 2.

My first impression of HBO’s “A Mother’s Courage: Talking back to autism”: it wasn’t the whole story. This was obviously one segment of producer Margret Dagmar Ericsdottir’s life. A native of Iceland, Margaret decided to document her visit to the United States and her search for answers concerning her son Keli’s diagnosis of autism.

Over 400 hours of footage was shot for “A Mother’s Courage,” two hours of which will premiere on April 2, at 6:00 p.m. est. It was clear from the very beginning that Margaret was in search of any answers but this documentary chooses to focus on the one that seemed to work best for her son and in the process she received an education on all things autism.

“A Mother’s Courage” begins where all moms should begin: with Temple Grandin. Of course so many books and documentaries have been down this road before, but when it comes to insight on autism, no one does it quite like Temple. Among the many places and people Margaret visits is the M.I.N.D. Institute at UC Davis and Cure Autism Now founders John Shestack and Portia Iverson. She eventually finds Soma Mukhopadhyay and her HALO program in Austin, Texas. After watching her work with several children, Margaret chooses to bring her son to Texas to be treated.

More: HBO documentary puts focus on awareness »