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This summer marks the 10th anniversary of a very special summer camp program at Oakland University in Rochester.

It's the annual film camp for young people on the autism spectrum¹. Campers from ages 10 to 20 write, direct, edit and star in a short film. It's followed by a red carpet premiere for attendees and their families in October.

The camp is part of OUCARES: the Oakland University Center for Autism.

Actor, director, screenwriter, producer and special education teacher Joey Travolta leads the camp.

He hopes to “give young people with autism a voice and make them feel included.”

The final product of the camp is made up of two parts: a short film created by campers, and a documentary that follows the process of making the film, including interviews with the campers.

By creating a film together, Travolta says campers learn better communication and how to collaborate², forming friendships in the process.

Coming from a show business family, with Travolta's younger brother being actor John and growing up with their mother as a singer, Travolta says he was the only member to earn a degree.

After deciding to go into teaching he says “there wasn't a lot of money in teaching and I was spending my paychecks on the kids and I would've gone broke. I knew I would always come back to it.”

Now, Travolta oversees³ five camps and four full-time⁴ workshops for adults with developmental disabilities, including one at Oakland.

Jake Skelly has been attending the film camp since it began ten years ago. He says he has enjoyed acting⁵, editing and leaning animation⁶. In the fall he will be attending Macomb Community College, taking classes on theater, art and English.

Travolta says he's learned a lot from the campers. “They teach us tolerance⁷, they teach us inclusion and those are two things that if you live your life that way you're going to be a pretty good person.”

1 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

2 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

3 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

7 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。