This is the story of a real autistic boy named Jacob. Transformed into an animated character, Jacob teaches us the signs of autism as he travels through a scale-model world inspired by his life experiences.

The journey begins with a voiceless Jacob traveling down a river in a boat. A serpent forces him into a dark forest, where terrifying lights and sounds overwhelm his heightened senses. Jacob is forced to escape creatures trying to look him in the eyes. He demonstrates repetitive behavior by flapping his arms again and again. Jacob takes flight. His parents recognize that he is displaying the signs of autism and get him help. By the time Jacob lands, he has left the animated world to enter the real world. We end with the real-life Jacob coming home from school, happy.

This story, set, and character was built entirely from interviews with children that have autism (and their families). Every scene (and many of the props) were inspired by real-world stories and toys we filmed during the interviews. One example: At the beginning of the spot, the river is a metaphor for a road. The serpent represents a detour that once sent Jacob into an intense panic attack that is a sign of autism. Every example in the spot is inspired by a similar real-world experience. Apart from the animated characters, which were created in CG, everything you see in the film is made up of real, miniature objects.