AUTISTIC KIDS LET US INTO THEIR WORLD.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

The kids look into the camera and tell you how hard it is for someone with autism to make friends - how the other kids' teasing hurts.

They talk about living in a world bombarding them with information they cannot possibly filter fast enough because their minds just don't work that way.

But most of all, they talk about us. The so-called normal people. The people who scare them.

It's a 10-minute film called ``Normal People Scare Me,'' made by Taylor Bowers, an autistic 15-year-old freshman at Newbury Park High School. He spent the past two months interviewing other autistic kids, ages 9 to 19, asking what's on their minds and what they see when they look out at the world.

It's one of 25 short films being shown this month at a student film festival at Chaminade High School in West Hills.

A few people who have seen an early version of Taylor's film say it's powerfully moving and brutally honest. A remarkable achievement from a young man who was basically written off as a baby as having no real future.

``I was told by the doctors that my son would probably never walk or talk,'' said Keri Bowers, Taylor's mother. ``Today's he's a high school freshman enrolled in regular classes, who wants to go to college and become a filmmaker.''

If this first effort is any indication, the boy who was supposed to have no future has a bright future, says Joey Travolta, who operates Entertainment Experience, a digital film and acting workshop for kids in Woodland Hills.

Travolta, the older brother of actor John Travolta, is sponsoring and helping organize the student film festival at Chaminade, where his daughter is a student.

``This film gives kids with autism a voice, and is a chance for us to see the world through their eyes. It's touched me deeply, taking me back to my roots as a special education teacher for three years in upstate New York.''

It was Travolta who said yes to Keri Bowers when she asked if it was OK for her autistic son to enter his film in the festival because it would mean so much to him and other autistic kids who have so little voice in our society.

Taylor was just 6 when Keri and a half-dozen other mothers with autistic children met in her living room and talked about starting a movement to make sure their kids got the same opportunities in schools the other kids did.

It's grown into an organization called Pause4Kids, providing programs and services for special-needs children and their families.

``I get chills seeing my son grow up in a way no one believed he could,'' she said.

Taylor believed. That's all that counts.

``I want people to leave my film feeling uplifted and having a better understanding of what it's like to live in our world,'' Taylor said Wednesday during a break at school.

You'll meet Ricky in the film, the youngest at 9. And Taylor, the oldest at 19, with the same first name as Bowers.

``He's a big, gentle guy who doesn't move much,'' says Taylor, the filmmaker. ``His dream is to enter computer animation when he gets out of school.''

You'll meet Brian, who gets frustrated because the girls at school tease him. And his sister, Elizabeth, who surprises everyone when she says she and Brian often communicate in a language no one else understands.

You'll see some smiles and some tears. Some anger and a lot of frustration.

You'll see the world of autism through the eyes of some beautiful kids living there.

Chaminade High, 7500 Chaminade Ave., West Hills, will hold its student film festival, 6-9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $3. And for information on Pause4Kids, call [phone].

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Taylor Cross, 15, sizes up a shot for the film he's made about what it's like to be autistic like him. Joey Travolta, who sponsored the film festival, is at left. Taylor's mother, Keri Bowers, is at right.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer