'Wretches & Jabberers' Chronicles 2 Autistic Men On Quest For Awareness

April is Autism Awareness Month and this morning we talked to Academy Award-winning director Gerardine Wurzburgon her new documentary that opens on April 1 Wretches & Jabberers. The film follows two men with autism, Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette, who embark on a global quest to change attitudes about disability and intelligence.

Determined to put a new face on autism, the men travel to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland, where at each stop they challenge public attitudes about autism and issue a hopeful message to reconsider competency. A poignant narrative of personal struggle that rings with intelligence, humor, hope and courage, Wretches & Jabberers is about the life-sustaining power of relationships - the personal connections that people make through communication.

Wretches & Jabberers is partnered with the Autism Society to theatrically release the film in April 2011 to commemorate National Autism Awareness Month. Area 23a, the specialized distribution company that focuses on event-driven films, will open the feature-length documentary across the U.S. as “movievents,” which include a screening of the film and a live panel discussion featuring Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette, self-advocates with autism, along with autism educators and family members who deal with the challenges of autism on a daily basis.

Wretches & Jabberers is produced by Douglas Biklen and Gerardine Wurzburg and funded by the Hussman Foundation which provides life-changing assistance through medical research, education, and direct aid to vulnerable individuals having urgent needs or significant disabilities. For more information, visit www.wretchesandjabberers.org.

For more on Autism Awareness, visit www.wpix.com/autismawareness.