Monday, December 10, 2012

Looking for me (1970)

Looking for me is an educational documentary from 1970, directed by Virginia Bartlett and starring dance therapist Janet Adler and the students of the Shady Lane School in Pittsburgh. Adler is a pioneer in movement therapy. This film is famous for a sequence involving her sessions with two autistic children, initially diagnosed as "psychotic." In the first clip below she slowly befriends them, mirroring their movements in order to build a bridge of trust. Watch the whole clip, take in the melancholy hypnotic music, and see if a tear doesn't come to your eye when she finally breaks through at 5:20.



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