70 million people in the world stutter — our own President is among them. From that population, 1 in 20 children stutter. As many of those kids will stutter for the rest of their lives, they potentially face a lifetime of stigmatization ahead of them. The documentary “My Beautiful Stutter” aims to help take away the stigma.
The documentary focuses on The Stuttering Association for the Young, an interactive arts-based program for children with stutters. “My Beautiful Stutter” specifically, a group of five kids ages 9 to 18. The movie follows the kids as they learn the organization’s key message — that it’s okay to stutter. With A-List executive producers like Mariska Hargitay and Paul Rudd backing this project, you know that message is going to pull at your heartstrings.
Ryan Gielen (“Stop the Bleeding“) directed the documentary with producers Michael Alden (“The Zookeeper“) and Ryan Gielen (“Stop the Bleeding!“). Take a look at the official summary for “My Beautiful Stutter” below:
My Beautiful Stutter follows five kids who stutter, ages 9 to 18, from all over the United States and all walks of life, who, after experiencing a lifetime of bullying and stigmatization, meet other children who stutter at an interactive arts-based program, The Stuttering Association for the Young, based in New York City. Their journey to SAY find some close to suicide, others withdrawn and fearful, exhausted and defeated from failed fluency training, societal pressures to not stutter or the decision to remain silent. Over the course of a year we witness first hand the incredible transformation that happens when these young people of wildly different backgrounds experience for the first time the revolutionary idea at the heart of SAY: that it’s okay to stutter.
The movie premieres exclusively on Discovery+ on March 11. Take a look at the new trailer below.