Author and illustrator Zachariah OHora is expanding into a new medium with the debut of the 2D-animated show Carl the Collector. Premiering on PBS Kids in English and Spanish on November 14, it is the first PBS Kids series to include lead characters who are on the autism spectrum. The show is produced by OHora’s Fuzzytown Productions and Spiffy Pictures and animated by Yowza! Animation.
“We’ve loved Zach’s art for so long,” said Sara DeWitt, senior VP and general manager of PBS Kids. The network is always looking for new creators, she said, and they reached out to OHora to see whether he might be interested in working on a show. “When he came back with this idea we were blown away.”
OHora said he had created a raccoon named Carl who wore argyle sweaters and was a collector, but didn’t have a story for him. “I thought he’d be a perfect character for PBS,” he said.
The idea to feature a neurodiverse cast of characters was sparked during his school visits as an author and as a parent of kids who were just starting at an inclusion school, where all students of different abilities are ensured equal opportunities in the mainstream classrooms. “I saw that the kids were friendly with everyone,” OHora said. “They didn’t differentiate. They were just friends. That was a lightbulb moment for me. It was very different from when I went to school.”
DeWitt said, “Part of PBS Kids’ mission is to reflect the authentic stories and lived experiences of kids in the U.S., and the focus on characters on the autism spectrum was such a great fit,” noting that the network has had shows previously with characters on the autism spectrum. They are well developed with good stories, but they are not lead characters like Carl. “It was the perfect coming together of the art and the story. The focus is identity and friendship. It shows how kids solve problems differently, but they can still be good friends. That’s really a message that kids can relate to.”
The show is directed by Lisa Whittick of Yowza! Animation, who is a parent of a child with autism. “I want the viewers to start to recognize neurodiversity in their own lives and learn how to help their friends when they see them struggling,” she said. “I think the audience will be pleasantly surprised and love it like we do. It’s not about autism. It’s fun and funny and weird, and on top of that there are real-life strategies for managing autism, ADHD, and anxiety.”
One of OHora’s goals is for viewers to see themselves or people they know in the series, as well as to be exposed to neurodiverse characters so they will be accepting of people on the spectrum in their own lives. “But I mostly hope they just have fun watching it,” he said. “There’s a lot of humor for kids and the caretakers who are watching it with them.”
The show’s production team includes writers, animators, production staff, and advisors who are neurodiverse or have close connections to people on the spectrum. To secure voice actors, Yowza! auditioned candidates through its regular network of agents and actors in Toronto, but nothing clicked. “Zach didn’t hear Carl’s voice,” Whittick said. So she put out an open call to a group of parents of children with autism that she’s a part of. About a dozen auditions yielded actors to play Carl and several other characters. “These are regular kids and not actors,” Whittick said. “We’ve figured out ways to accommodate each one.”
Also lending authenticity is the fact that writers who are neurodivergent are telling their own personal stories that happened when they grew up. “The team really relates to the characters,” Wittick said. “I relate to Carl’s mom, who’s just trying to figure out the best way to raise Carl. It means a lot to me personally and has been the gift of my life to be on this show. So many other team members feel the same way.”
During the production process, discussions occurred about whether to address the topic of autism directly on screen. “In families with a child on the spectrum there are discussions about whether you should tell your friends,” DeWitt said. It was decided that Carl would share.
In an episode called “The Fall,” written by Ava X. Rigelhaupt, who is autistic, Carl and his friends are flying kites. One of the characters trips and skins a knee, and Carl freezes, causing hurt feelings. Carl tells his mom that he didn’t know what to do in that situation, and they decide together that he will tell his friends about his autism. “It’s a really beautiful moment in the series,” DeWitt said. The characters get to know Carl better and Carl learns what to do when something like that happens again. “The topic isn’t front and center in the series, but it has moments like that that are really meaningful.”
“We have a duty to the autism community to present it as realistically as possible and be upfront about it,” OHora said. “It’s a touching episode but it isn’t preachy and doesn’t talk down to the audience.”
Feedback from viewer testing also informed the content. “We realized one autistic character can’t be the whole spectrum,” OHora said. “And, especially at this age group, females and males present differently.” So they created a new character, a fox called Lotte, who is also on the spectrum but is very different from Carl.
“We’ve never had a reaction like this to a show,” DeWitt said, noting that member stations that have viewed the series can’t wait to share it with their communities, including special education classrooms. Supporting resources will include toolkits for stations to hold sensory-friendly activities and events. “We wanted to approach it a little differently to provide a welcoming environment to everyone, even those who don’t do well with crowds or noise.”
Publishing based on the property is a possibility down the road. “I’d love to have some stories, not just based on episodes but to continue expanding the world,” OHora said. “We have a lot of great side characters and we could explore their interior lives.”
