National Autistic Society’s world of difference

Produced by Caviar for the National Autistic Society, this touching campaign draws attention to misunderstandings surrounding the condition through the real story of a father, Chris, and his young daughter, who are both on the spectrum.  

Director Sasha Nathwani sensitively pairs cinematic vignettes with an emotive voiceover from Chris to transform every day, documentary-like scenes into a poignant and poetic short film portraying the pair's shared experience of being autistic in a world that wasn’t designed for them.   

Key scenes include Chris’ daughter resisting donning a particularly scratchy cardigan for school, Chris deflecting stigma from a family member over the phone, and a bath time scene in which father and daughter movingly share how much, against all the challenges they face, they like being like one another. 

“Our goal was to show that generational change is needed in how we, as a society, show up for autistic people, what the stakes are, and that we can and must make that more supportive world happen” says Ada Rose, Senior Creative at Don’t Panic.  

“Autism is complex to portray onscreen, and across charity, agency and production, the work done preparing this script and crafting this edit was some of the most rigorous I’ve overseen in my career. So many of us on this project are either neurodivergent or are close to someone who is, and the passion I’ve seen poured into this film gives me so much hope that we will create the world autistic people need to thrive.”