Neither 'retarded?nor 'freaks', just different

Before making his documentary, Taiwan filmmaker Shen Ko-shang believed autistic people were all like Dustin Hoffman's character in the 1988 Oscar-winning film Rain Man: blabbering, frightened and gifted.

"I was seriously wrong," says Shen, whose four-episode documentary, Children from the Distant Planet, is aimed at raising awareness of this developmental disorder.

Started in 2008, it took Shen two years to complete.