AUSTIN — Eighty-one-year-old Dr. Laurence A. Becker is trying to raise money to get his documentary, "Fierce Love...and Art," edited in time for its premiere on May 13.
The former head of the English department at St. Stephen's Episcopal School told KVUE's Jenni Lee that he found his calling in life after he left the teaching profession.
He is a storyteller with a passion to document the lives of artists with autism. He wants to show their art and show how much their parents love them.
"It means so much because it seems to be my purpose in life," Becker said. "To share these stories and to give hope to the parents who are often devastated by the diagnosis of autism."
Inside his Central Austin home, there is so much artwork that there's not enough wall space for all of it. Paintings hang in every room. Many sit on the floors. Most are from artists in his documentary.
The 81-year-old said making documentaries was never on his bucket list. That was until he saw a painting by Richard Wawro, a Scottish artist who was legally blind.
"They said he had a 30 IQ and a mind of a 6-year-old. That didn't interest me at all but his art did. I didn't know what autism was at that time. This is how I got started," Becker said.
Wawro was the subject of Dr. Becker's first documentary.
Becker said he doesn't seek out his subjects. They seek him out.
"I tell people I'm like Pigpen in Charlie Brown -- these people just come to me. I don't look for them. They just come to me," Dr. Becker said.
Becker explained how one family contacted him.
"'We've been aware of your work with this artist and we want YOU to introduce my nephew's work to the United States,' (the family told him). He was 14. He can't speak, he can't walk, he can't feed himself and he can't hold a brush. He paints with his hands," Becker said.
That artist was Christophe Pillault.
Go here for more information about his project.