MEET THE CINEMA SQUAD
Your Hosts and Cinema Agent Sleuths
Cinema Agent Name: Dr. Stephanie C. Holmes, Certified Autism Specialist
Neuro-Profile: NeuroTypical & NeuroDivergent Ally
Hobbies & Activities/Interests: Photography, Author, Pickleball, Travel
Why I Joined the Cinema Team: I started the team to examine how autism or other neurodivergent characters are displayed in media for edutainment purposes. I also professionally diagnose Autism in Adults and specialize in the identification of women on the Autism Spectrum.
My Favorite Show: While I do love The Big Bang Theory, I loved the show Parenthood when it aired because it was the first show on television to show a family like mine with the character Max Braverman. I believe the actor did a great job in his portrayal, and I loved the show, including Hank as a later-in-life diagnosed adult.
Cinema Agent Name: Dan Holmes, MS & IT Guy
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Neuro-Profile: Neurodivergent
Passionate Interests: Right now, I am collecting languages, and I have always liked maps and interesting facts about many things.
Why I Joined the Cinema Team: I’m drawn to stories that include the perspective of the outlier — the character who doesn’t seem central at first, the piece that looks optional, the detail that feels easy to overlook. I love the moment when the light shifts and you realize that what looked peripheral was quietly holding the pattern together the whole time.
Good cinema does that kind of reveal beautifully. That’s the space I care about exploring: where thought outliers live, where perspective reframes meaning, and where the best insights hide until you tilt the lens just enough to see them.
An Interesting Character in Cinema: Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python
Recurring Cinema Agents
Cinema Agent Name: Sydney (Holmes) Roberts, M.A.
Neuro-Profile: Neurodivergent
Passionate Interests: I am drawn to spaces where creativity and meaning intersect — whether that’s wandering through museums, exploring arts and crafts, or engaging with imaginative worlds like Animal Crossing. I value environments that invite curiosity, reflection, and connection. At the center of many of my interests is a simple but grounding motivation: helping others and contributing to experiences that make people feel seen, supported, and understood.
Why I Joined the Cinema Team: I am fascinated by the way stories allow us to step into perspectives beyond our own while also recognizing pieces of ourselves along the way. Cinema has a unique ability to translate complex inner experiences into something visible and shared, often giving language to feelings that might otherwise go unspoken. As someone who is neurodivergent, I am especially interested in how film captures difference — not as something to be corrected, but as something that deepens the human story.
I joined the Cinema Team to engage in thoughtful conversations about representation, emotional authenticity, and the subtle ways storytelling shapes how we understand one another. When we pause to look closely, film becomes more than entertainment; it becomes a bridge toward empathy.
A Character Who Resonates With Me: Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones was the first character who made me feel truly seen. As a child, I recognized something familiar in her: brilliant yet often misunderstood, deeply analytical, and unwavering in her pursuit of truth. Watching her do exceptional work while remaining unapologetically herself shaped my early understanding of what strength and intelligence could look like. At nine years old, she became my role model, and that connection continues to influence how I value authenticity and perspective today.
Cinema Agent Name: Kristin Sunanta Walker
Neuro-Profile: Late-diagnosed Neurodivergent (Autism & ADHD)
Passionate Interests: Cinema as pattern language, mythic storytelling, and world-building. I’m especially drawn to stories that operate on multiple timelines or layers at once — where meaning isn’t linear, but accumulative. I love narratives that reward re-watching, where symbolism, sensory experience, and moral architecture all run in parallel. Writing. Writing. Writing.
Why I Joined the Cinema Team: I experience movies the way some people experience systems or maps — I see many timelines, meanings, and outcomes unfolding at once. For me, cinema is one of the safest and richest places to talk about neurodivergent perception without turning it into a clinical explanation.
Breaking down films through a neurodivergent lens lets us name something many of us have always felt: that being able to hold multiple realities, interpretations, and futures simultaneously isn’t a flaw — it’s a source of insight. I love using film as a shared language to explore how neurodivergent minds sense danger, possibility, belonging, and truth long before the story confirms it.
First Film I’m Excited to Explore: Dune I & II. The Water of Life is one of the most accurate metaphors I’ve ever seen for autism and ADHD. It’s dangerous, misunderstood, and not meant for everyone — but for those who can metabolize it, it unlocks the ability to see many timelines at once. Not as fantasy, but as pattern recognition: sensing consequences, probabilities, and outcomes simultaneously. Paul’s transformation isn’t about becoming powerful; it’s about becoming overwhelmed by clarity. That’s a very neurodivergent experience.
An Interesting Character in Cinema: Paul Atreides (Dune) — not as a hero, but as a nervous system under pressure. His sensitivity, foresight, and burden of awareness feel deeply familiar to late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults who grew up knowing too much, too soon, without the language or protection to explain it.
Cinema Agent Name: Dave Glick, EdM, LCSW
Neuro-Profile: Neurodivergent Professional and Part-Time Philosopher
Passionate Interests: Hiking, Travel, Food & Wine, Reading and Documentaries
Why I Joined the Cinema Team: From a young age I was always fascinated by all forms of media and I learned social skills for better and for worse from film and media. Star Trek was my main information source. As a professional and a clinician, I realized that cinema can convey very strong messages and greatly shapes not just our culture, but how we live our daily lives. I am constantly assigning different films for my patients to watch to enhance their therapy experience. My hallmark class, Advanced Psychology for Cops, uses examples from film to not just convey the concepts presented in class but to really punch the theory through to enable greater understanding. In Advanced Psych, we deliberately show the film Richard Jewel to illustrate how law enforcement and Neurodiversity interact.
An Interesting Character in Cinema: The entire cast of the film A Few Good Men. Each and every one of them is a case study in psychology.
