ReelAbilities Screening: Spectrum Shorts

Join Art Possible Ohio and The Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center for the October screening of Spectrum Shorts at the ReelAbilities Film Festival Columbus.  Spectrum Shorts is a collection of shorts about different aspects of autism. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the curator, Tristan Turner.     

Doors open at 6:30 PM, the films will begin at 7:00 PM.

Spectrum Shorts:

Cost:

Free and open to the public.  To register visit our Humanitix page. Registration is requested for this event due to limited seating at the venue.

Access:

Open captions will be provided.

Headphones for assistive listening will be available.

When:

October 8, 2026     7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Schedule of events:

6:30 PM: Doors open
7:00 PM: Film begins
8:00 PM: Talkback with the curator

Where:

Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center

1139 West Main Street, Columbus, OH 43215

Parking:

Metered street parking is available on Main St, Noble St, and on Civic Center Dr through the ParkMobile app.

Public Transit:

The Priscilla R Tyson Cultural Arts Center is located on West Main Street and can be accessed from the Main Street COTA Routes #3, 6, or 9. To plan your trip visit the COTA Trip Planner.

Film Description:

Running Time: 62 min

Boys
Overwhelmed by the chaos of class, neurodiverse teenager Jacob seeks refuge in an empty locker room, only to find himself facing an unexpected confrontation.

Key of Genius
Key of Genius tells the extraordinary true story of Derek Paravicini, a blind, autistic musical savant, and Adam Ockelford, a piano teacher determined to unlock his genius. Set in 1980s London, the film unfolds over a series of transformative piano lessons.

When Adam meets young Derek and his supportive mother, Mary Ann, he quickly realizes traditional teaching methods won’t work. Through patience, innovation and a shared love for music, Adam discovers unconventional ways to connect with Derek, in turn learning to experience the world through the boy’s unique perspective.

The film explores themes of perseverance, breaking barriers and finding a universal language through music. Based on the acclaimed biography of the same name, Key of Genius celebrates an inspirational bond between a remarkable student and teacher.

Bubble Boy
A non-verbal autistic boy with a deep desire to communicate creates a world through drawing. Based on a true story.

Once More, Like Rain Man
Zoe, an autistic teen actor, sits through yet another audition where the adults behind the table label her “the autistic one,” joke that she “doesn’t look autistic,” and ask if she has an “autism super power” — you know, “like Rain Man.” Her dad Gerry, a struggling screenwriter trying to keep them both afloat, hustles her from room to room while she’s forced into role after role that reduces her to a checkbox. When Zoe overhears that her mom plans to move her in to increase her payments for having a “disabled kid” at home, the day turns into a battle for control of her own life—not just a booking. At a crowded final call, a casting assistant says the quiet part out loud: they want the character to be “more autistic,” and Zoe has to decide whether to perform a stereotype or tell the truth. What follows is sharp, funny, and cathartic—building to the inevitable when they ask her to do it “once more… like Rain Man.”

Hole
Mo is an adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today, a hole started following them

Late Diagnosed
Matt often didn’t recognize himself in photos and never really understood why—until one day his loss of hearing helped him see more clearly. This short film breaks down what living with auditory processing disorder can feel like, as well as the complicated feelings that come with this and other diagnoses.

Act Natural
Act Natural is a short film that seeks to exhibit the inner battle that occurs within people with high- functioning autism as they engage in everyday conversation.

About the Curator:

Tristan Turner is an experimental filmmaker and mixed media artist from Asheville, NC. His work aims to combine the aesthetics of the past and present to interrogate medium specificity, new limits, and personal expression. Tristan is fond of both digital and analog imagery. Often in his work, he blends the two until they merge into something both familiar and alien. Community, poetry, collaboration, diaristic narratives, mixed media, abstraction, and visual experimentation are core values in his work. Philosophically, Tristan believes that cinema is the most boundless platform of human expression. Everything is cinema.

Film Guide: Loud noises, bright lights and flashing lights, screaming, alarm sounds, simulation of sensory overload, adult language.