“Essential viewing for parents and teachers of children with severe challenges.”
Temple Grandin – Author, Thinking in Pictures and The Autistic Brain
“Must see TV… It’s impossible to turn away from Steve Suderman’s compelling family portrait.”
Jim Bawden – Television Blogger and former Toronto Star critic
“Sure to touch your heart as you travel with this family on their emotional journey.”
Laurie Mawlam – Executive Director, Autism Canada
About the film
When Carly and Stef’s two-year-old son Oskar is diagnosed with autism, their busy family of seven drops everything for a year to focus on his therapy. In this theatrical feature and 1-hour television documentary, Director Steve Suderman offers an intimate and honest portrayal of two loving parents as they juggle the demands of a hectic treatment schedule with the needs of their five lively children. As they strive to connect with him, they confront a critical question: Does accepting Oskar mean accepting his autism?
Broadcast
Watch the feature-length documentary online here!

My Autism Passport App
My Autism Passport (M.A.P.) is a free interactive app to help parents plan, navigate and manage their child’s developmental treatment journey after they have received an autism diagnosis.
This groundbreaking app was created through a partnership between Beyond the Spectrum and St. Michael’s Hospital. My Autism Passport, is funded by Telus and TVO.
Beyond the Spectrum: Connecting Parents and Children to Healthcare
A message from the family
Carly and Stef and their five children are featured in Beyond the Spectrum:
We invited director Steve Suderman to share our story with the hope that our experience would offer comfort to other families facing similar experiences, and provide insight into life with a special needs child for those who aren’t familiar with the highs and lows of parenting on the spectrum.
This film portrays the beginning of our journey and our story is far from over. We hope that the film demonstrates that there is no single “correct” way to approach the task of supporting your child on their developmental path. We wanted to empower parents to do their own research, and make choices with the intention that they can help their child to thrive, regardless of their diagnosis. We think the film Steve made does this and this website has some additional videos and information for those who want to find out more about topics and therapies featured in the film.
For parents of children with autism the first year after diagnosis can be confusing and tiring. At times you might feel that you can never do enough research, the options are endless, and the developmental milestones can seem unattainable. The important thing to remember is that as parents it is our job to advocate, observe and use our gut instincts! It’s not “one size fits all” and different therapies work for different children. Try therapies that your gut tells you might be a good fit for what you are seeing in your child, and maybe stop anything that doesn’t seem to work since you can always try again later. You know your child better than anyone else and you can trust that instinct.
Lastly, you don’t need to spend a lot of money. There are lots of free things in books or the internet that you can do or try at home. Don’t break the bank – listen to your gut!
Discover More
Learn more about the people and ideas featured in the film.
News & Blog

The Premiere: Carly’s Reflections
We felt it would be important to connect with the audience after Beyond the Spectrum's launch, so Stef and I had agreed in advance to do the Q & A following the film. There was an overwhelming feeling of excitement and gut wrenching fear as the date for the AGO...
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Director’s Notes
The first time I met Carly and Stef, we were in a crowded cafe. They anxiously showed me videos of 20-month-old Oskar, their son who was showing early signs of being on the autism spectrum. Initially I couldn’t see anything unusual about the videos. It just looked...
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The Editing Process
With filming for more than a year, shooting over 90 hours of footage, the editing process is challenging but exciting. So many discoveries. So much that won’t fit in the film. For me, most scenes start as a single moment that I feel is important or revealing....
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