I am currently a high-school student about to enter my senior year/12th grade. I have had no past experience in film making, I spent 10 months researching, learning, directing and writing independently in preparation of this film.

Outside of school academics, I have a strong passion in child developmental psychology with a focus on children with ASD. While balancing the film-making learning process, I also spent months researching about this topic, interacting with families, and visiting over 20 organisations and schools for children with ASD across Hong Kong as well as Guangzhou China. I produced a 5000 word research paper on “To What Extent Does Utilitarianism Provide a Justification for ABA-based Interventions for Children with ASD in United States Primary Education Settings.” I also submitted this paper to the EPQ of AQA exam board and achieved an A+. From my findings, I was determined to find and share an intervention that unlike traditional ones that focused on measuring behaviour and often disregarded the child’s wellbeing, truly prioritised the child’s welfare and allowed them to effectively grow and build connections from that. I connected with the world’s first scuba diving aquatic therapy program for autistic children and spent months interacting with different families in this program. Finally, I was ready to share this with the world.

What commenced as curiosity quickly transformed into something profoundly personal: an immersion into the quiet adversities that children with ASD and their families navigate daily, their resilience, but more importantly the unexpected pockets of joy that emerge when children are met with patience rather than prescription, like in the water.

As a high-school student who had no previous experience in filming, I wanted to challenge myself and express and share a story I truly care about through the form of a short-film documentary.

The documentary captures the perspectives of an autistic boy—Puwei’s—mom, his instructor, and myself. I interviewed his mom and his instructor to learn about how scuba diving has impacted this autistic boy’s life, and sets this form of intervention apart from traditional ones such as ABA—Applied Behavioural Analysis.

I am neither a professional, nor parent, nor educator—yet I remain steadfast in my hope that this narrative carries more weight than merely informing. I really do hope that it compels a shift in how autism is perceived; moving beyond deficit-based frameworks and interventions that focus on measuring behavioural outcomes and towards a more humanistic ethos that meet children where they are and truly prioritise their wellbeing, rather than perpetuating a narrative of deficit and correction.