Arkansas family featured in documentary about son’s autism diagnosis airing on big screen

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Evan James was born in 1991 and was the most beautiful child in his mother’s eyes. However, when he began to develop, she noticed he wasn’t responding as most children should. Now his story is being told on the big screen.

At the time of his diagnosis, doctors said to give it time, saying he is an only child, and it may take longer, but Beth Burns, then Beth James, knew it had to be more.

“Persistent mother says you know he’s not fine, I know he’s not fine, and so we eventually received a diagnostic as autism,” Beth said.

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In 1991, Beth said she didn’t know what autism was, and following the diagnosis, she felt as if she didn’t know what to do.

“They didn’t know what to tell us to do,” Beth said.

At the age of 11, Evan’s dad was diagnosed with leukemia. After three years of fighting cancer, he lost his life. A moment that Beth didn’t know how to explain to Evan.

“Part of the film talks about a very hard thing to talk to someone about who doesn’t take language in or out in a normal sort of way,” Beth said.

However, they relied on faith, family, and friends in El Dorado, who rallied around them to support them.

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Beth remarried and became Beth Burns, introducing Paul Burns and his five children into their lives.

“The story morphed into how do you enter into the world of blended families with an autistic person and how do you explain that to children who now have a sibling who they don’t know or understand,” Beth said.

Paul, however, was up to the challenge.

“Personally, it was a little bit of a challenge at the beginning. I had never been around anyone with autism, and so I had to learn Evan’s habits and patterns, which I did,” Paul said.

“It was challenging as far as blending the family, but they all are remarkable human beings,” Paul said.

Evan James not only gained a stepdad but siblings who have now given him nieces and nephews, whom he really enjoys spending time with his parents.

“The origin of the film came from a 30 minute film that Alexander Jeffery, Paul Petersen and I created for Beth’s birthday and once we had that film done, and we saw it which is told through the eyes of her friends and family without her in it, without her narrating it, we knew we had something really special so we wanted to expand on that and so we brought her into the picture willingly and this well we are very proud of it,” Paul said.

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Beth shares how a lot of people when their child is diagnosed with autism or other issues, can experience a mourning period, but that it is important to celebrate their successes and make them happy.

“In my eye, the bottom line is that really all it takes for me to be happy is for him to live his life and to be enhanced, for him to find things that bring him joy, and for him to bring joy to others,” Beth said.

Evan James lives part-time in a group home in Magnolia, which is his outlet for socializing with “people like him,” his mom said.

“He’s partially verbal, he still does not have what we would call conversational language, so it’s not always easy to communicate with him, but he will let you know what he wants,” Beth said.

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The other portion of the time, he spends time with his family.

Beth said the primary goal of the film, You Have No Idea, is to raise awareness and ensure no mother thinks they are alone in this journey. To educate others on how to interact with someone with autism and potentially be someone’s hero.

Kody Ford, the Director of Outreach and Statewide Programs for the Arkansas Cinema Society encourages people to see this powerful documentary.

“It’s going to be playing at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts on Friday, March 29 and doors open at 6:00 and show at 6:30 pm and people can hang around because there will be a Q&A with Beth and Paul Burns and Alexander Jeffery the director following,” Ford said.

Ford said this will be the last showing on the big screens before it debuts on Apple TV and Amazon Prime on April 2, World Autism Awareness Day.

To buy tickets for the showing, visit ArkansasCinemaSociety.org.

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