A documentary short shines a spotlight on a new tool for self-expression.
Makayla Cain, an Atlanta teenager with autism, was nonverbal for the first decade-plus of her life. The documentary short Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World, executive-produced by her parents, chronicles how her life changes when she starts using an analog letter board to express herself.
The one-of-a-kind film balances Makayla’s breathtakingly poetic words (“The most beautiful sound is the empty way the air flows between the trees. . . . It creates melodies that resemble my own silence.”) with heartwarming scenes of a close-knit family getting to know each other better. Only eight months into using the technology, Makayla overflows with all that went unsaid for years.
“I delved into reading over 160 pages of letter board sessions,” says writer-director Julio Palacio (Not the Science Type). “My job was to let her voice shine.” Makayla, who co-writes the film, chose actor Portia Cue to read her words in voice-over.
Makayla’s Voice celebrates an unstoppable young woman dedicated to showcasing the power and beauty of neurodiversity. “Silent? Not us,” she says. “We are the sound of hidden beauty. Winds of autism, I soar in trees.”
