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From the title one might think this might be a SOUTH PARK parody, but it’s really a sobering and thoughtful look at children with autism and the difficulties they and their parents face. We see the wide range of ways the disorder affects various children; some are highly functional and others are barely verbal. Over the course of the documentary a group of autistic kids prepare for the Miracle Project musical in Los Angeles. We get to know the autistic kids as individuals, not just as a problem that needs to be fixed.

Elaine Hall is a single mom of an autistic tween named Neal, who she adopted from Russia. Nicknamed Coach E, she runs the Miracle Project. Her blonde-haired son is the most afflicted of the main children profiled. Barely able to speak his name, Neal is trapped inside a world of his own. On the flip side, the freckle-faced Wyatt is the most functional of the group, understanding his problems and struggling with his need to go to special ed classes with mentally handicapped kids and his understanding that he might not be able to make it in mainstream schools.

Adam, a tiny African-American eight-year-old, is a skilled musician whose mother dropped her own life to care for him. He attends regular school, but still has trouble controlling his outbursts. Lexi is 14 and has trouble forming complete sentences. But when she sings, she opens up to the world. Her mother Hillary has struggled emotionally with her daughter’s problems even slipping into deep depressions. The adorable blonde Henry is highly verbal, having Asberger’s Syndrome, a highly functional form of autism where the person becomes excessively knowledgeable about a given topic. Henry’s passion is dinosaurs and reptiles. Oh, and his parents happen to be Kristen and Stephen Stills, the Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Each child deals with their disability differently. Wyatt, who is hypersensitive to bullying, thinks over his issues constantly. Many of the others dip into their own worlds when the world around them becomes over stimulating. Though they all show different signs of the disease, we see similarities across them like their aversion to loud noises. The toll that having a child with autism plays on a marriage is seen through the stories of Adam and Lexi’s parents. Wyatt’s parents try to get better help at school for their son, but that goes nowhere when the lawyer says it could cost upwards of $100,000. Many of the parents fear the same thing — what happens to my child when I am gone. For kids like Lexi or Neal, an institution seems the likely future. In a heartfelt moment, Hillary admits that she wishes her daughter dies before her.

Tricia Regan’s documentary is captivating in a compulsive sort of way. Once you begin watching you can’t turn away. Her main subjects and their families allow us to have an unguarded look into their lives, including all the problems. I’ve always hated when children with disabilities are called little miracles or little angels, because it condescendingly robs them of their humanity. But the Miracle Project doesn’t describe the children, but the project itself. It’s a miracle that dedicated and caring people like Hall make productions like this possible. With all the harsh realities that are on display in this film, the musical production is a beacon of hope for kids who have little other outlets of expression. In a telling scene, Neal types out message that feels like a declaration to us, “hey, there’s a person inside here.” And that’s what this amazing documentary does for these kids.