The Horse Boy a must see for National Autism Awareness Month

Rowan Isaacson was diagnosed with autism in April 2004, at age two and a half. The charming, animated child had ceased speaking. He retreated into himself for hours at a time, screamed inconsolably for no apparent reason, flapped his arms and babbled. For the Isaacsons, as for so many other parents, autism seemed to have snatched away their child's soul.

Rowan's parents, Rupert Isaacson, a human rights worker, author and former professional horse trainer, and Kristin Neff, a psychology professor, sought out the best medical care for him. But orthodox therapies had little effect on Rowan.

Then came the day Rowan ran away from his father, got through the fence of their neighbor's horse pasture, and in amongst the hooves of the horse herd. Rupert had stopped riding since Rowan's autism had kicked in, thinking it unsafe for his son to be around horses. Now he froze, heart in mouth, praying Rowan would not get trampled. Instead, the herd's boss horse, a notoriously grumpy old mare named Betsy, pushed the other horses away, bent her head to Rowan, and began to lick and chew with her lips: the equine sign of submission. Rupert had never seen a horse voluntarily make this obeisance to a human being before. Something direct, something beautiful, was clearly passing between boy and horse.

So Isaacson began to ride with Rowan on Betsy every day, and Rowan—amazingly—began to talk, to engage with the outside world. He asked himself, was there a place on the planet that combined horses and healing? He did some research: the country where the horse was first domesticated, where the nomadic horse life is still lived by most of its people, is also the one country where shamanism—healing at its most raw and direct—is the state religion. Mongolia.

What if he was to take Rowan there, thought Rupert, riding on horseback from shaman to shaman? What would happen?

The Horse Boy follows Rupert, Kristin and Rowan through the summer of 2007 as they traverse Mongolia on their quest. From the wild open Steppe to the sacred Lake Sharga, and deep into Siberia, they are tested to their limits individually, as a couple, as a family. They find their son is accepted, even treasured for his differences. In a world steeped in mystical tradition and hardscrabble reality, Rowan makes dramatic leaps forward, astonishing—the film reveals—both his parents and himself.

The film also includes interviews with some of the foremost experts in the field of autism including Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen (cousin of comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen) of Cambridge University; anthropologist and researcher Roy Richard Grinker of the George Washington University; and Dr. Temple Grandin, who is a professor of animal behavior at Colorado State University and who herself has autism. She is also the author of Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, and, more recently, Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals.

The Horse Boy is part travel adventure, part insight into shamanic tradition and part intimate look at the autistic mind. In telling one family's extraordinary story, the film gives voice to the thousands of families who display amazing courage and creativity everyday in the battle against this mysterious and heartbreaking epidemic. 

In The Horse Boy, filmmaker Michel Orion Scott captures a magical journey into a little known world. The documentary feature chronicles Rupert Isaacson and Kristin Neff 's very personal odyssey as they struggle to make sense of their child's autism and find healing for him and themselves in this unlikeliest of places.

The Horse Boy book and movie can be purchased at www.thehorseboymovie.com. A schedule of screenings across the country is listed here.