Autism in the movies!

Though the estimates put the number of people in the US with autism at over 5 million, it isn’t all that common they appear in popular culture. Whether it’s music, art or theater, autism is typically relegated to the background. Well, that’s not true with the new movie, “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” In this movie, the focus is on the “…deep, massive, unspoken, eternal bond between a mom and her disabled daughter.” The daughter, Lola, in this case, is autistic. For the director, it was important to find the right actor. He found it in a New Jersey native with autism, Vanessa Burghardt. And according to the other main actor in the film, Dakota Johnson, “She’s the heart of the movie.” Check it out, playing on Apple TV+.