Film Narrates Amazing Story of Shorewood Graduate's Life Journey with Autism

will play host to the amazing story of Ariel Keane, a Shorewood High School graduate, who journeyed through adolescence with autism.

The film “I Am Beautiful” created by Shu Ling Hsieh, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee film school graduate, details Ariel’s challenges and triumphs from toddler to teenager with autism and will be shown 7 p.m. Thursday at Lake Bluff, 1600 E. Lake Bluff Blvd. The event is free.

Hsieh became captivated by Ariel, her mother Linda Keane said, and set out to document her life with a documentary.

Keane said after Hsieh became dismayed by the portrayal of autism online, she set out to show the promise of a life that could be changed through the acceptance of a community, caring and compassion of others. The filmmaker followed Ariel around twice a month over the course of a year. The film includes home footage of Ariel’s time in therapy and with family.

The film was finished about two year ago, which opens with Ariel's graduation from Shorewood High School in 2009, but Keane said this is the first time the public will see the documentary and it is really to say thanks to the school district.

"It is to say thanks for the support from principals, special education teachers and the community," Keane said. "She has really changed a lot of people’s lives."

Ariel is still at Shorewood High School in a transitional program.

Keane said when she and her husband Mark learned their daughter had autism, they looked for everything they could find on autism but only found one film. She said she hopes with this film and others like it, parents of children with special needs may gain hope.

"More and more Ariel is living a normal life," she said. "We want to show people there is hope."

“Tonight’s showing...  is dedicated to all individuals with autism, their families and their caregivers,” Keane said. “From the initial moment of recognition, individuals with autism and their families set out on a journey into unknown territory with unknown destinations.”

The Keane family's graphic novel, with a detailed year-by-year, toddler to teenager curriculum development, will be available at the back of the theater.

“The ability to remain hopeful and positive through all of the valleys and challenges each day, week, month and year is the penultimate test for the travelers,” Keane said.