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American Morning

Jackon Trial Updates; "Autism is a World"

Aired May 20, 2005 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the rain now in New York. Good morning, everyone.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. The jury did not get to hear Larry King's story in the Michael Jackson trial. Anne Bremner did, though. She's going to tell us what he said and tell us why the jurors will never hear it, just ahead.

HEMMER: First, though, top stories and Carol Costello has those. Hello again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I do, indeed. Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," new developments this morning in the case of two missing children in Idaho. They may -- may have been spotted. A new tip has investigators searching for a tall man and a light-colored van, now possibly in northwestern Montana. 8-year-old Shasta and 9- year-old Dylan Groene have not been seen since their mother, older brother and their mother's boyfriend were all found dead on Monday. Their father has this emotional message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GROENE, FATHER OF MISSING CHILDREN: If they can see me or hear me, I want them to know that -- and I know that they know, I love them. And I need them back with me. Everybody's praying for them. And all I can tell them is just please hang in there. This will be over soon. They're coming home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Some $70,000 has been pledged in reward money for information in that case.

U.S. military officials want to know who exactly released these photographs of Saddam Hussein in prison. You've seen them by now. It's on the cover of British tabloid "The Sun." They show the former Iraqi dictator in his underpants. U.S. officials call the photos a possible violation of the Geneva Convention. The military says "The Sun" obtained the photos and then handed them over to military officials to verify. It is believed the photos were taken over a year ago.

Army recruiters are laying down their clipboards today. The unusual move called a stand-down at the response to recent allegations of improper tactics by some recruiters. The Pentagon has ordered 7,500 recruiters nationwide to focus today on recruitment ethics and its rules.

And tennis star Serena Williams will not play in this year's French Open, the tournament she won in 2002. That's according to event organizers. It's apparently due to an ankle injury. Williams has missed more court time lately. She lost the first match at the Italian Open earlier this month and missed the German Open because of a strained ankle. The French Open starts on Monday. She will be missed, because she's such an exciting player.

O'BRIEN: No question about that. All right, Carol, thanks.

Well, the Michael Jackson trial resumes in just about three hours and a former lawyer for the pop star back in the spotlight. Mark Geragos scheduled to return to the stand. That's today. That follows the judge's decision on Thursday not to allow another celebrity witness to testify, CNN's Larry King.

Well, criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner was in the courtroom on Thursday. She's with us this morning. Nice to see you, Anne, as always.

ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nice to see you.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right -- thank you very much. He was on the stand briefly. What did he say?

BREMNER: Well, he said exactly what the defense theories are. He said the accuser's mother was a wacko, and when asked what that meant, he said, "I think that's self-explanatory." He said -- this was said by the attorney for the accuser's mother, that she was a wacko. Said to Larry King that she was also out for the money. And according to Larry King, the lawyer, Mr. Feldman, was not going to represent her because he didn't believe her or her family. Those are the three things for the defense. They're not believable, they're out for the money and the accuser's mom is a wacko.

O'BRIEN: All right, so obviously, helping the defense in a very big way. So why won't jurors hear this testimony?

BREMNER: You know, this is reminiscent of a judge out here in Seattle when I would ask, your honor, may we have the benefit of your reasoning? And he would say, Miss Bremner, I so rule. The judge didn't tell us really a lot about why he disallowed the testimony. He said it wasn't relevant.

And what it comes down to is the attorney Feldman had testified about an opinion he had -- and or, excuse me, Feldman -- King had testified about opinion. Feldman had said it's attorney/client privilege, I didn't say anything. So it wasn't a direct factual rebuttal statement. And it was kept out. It was dynamite evidence against the prosecution. The jury will never hear it.

O'BRIEN: Aja Pryor, though, was heard by the jurors. She's a young woman who had a relationship with the family, in a way. Became friends, kind of them adopted them to some degree. What did she have to say on the stand?

BREMNER: She had to say the following: that the family was never afraid of Michael Jackson, that the mother of the accuser thought Michael Jackson was quote, unquote, "an angel." That there was no false imprisonment, no complaints, and the accuser's mother wanted money again and wanted money from this witness. Finally, she said that there was a broken arm. The accuser had a broken arm from a baseball accident, but you know, that was when he had claimed to have suffered in the J.C. Penney incident. So she was a good witness for the defense, very believable and compelling.

O'BRIEN: Then they played this 20-minute long videotape of, like, a tour through Neverland. Obviously, it's played to the jurors. We don't have that tape. We've got some other videotape of Neverland that we can show. Prosecution had a big problem with that. They said it's obvious propaganda. Explain that to me.

BREMNER: Remember during the O.J. Simpson jury view, there were claims by the prosecution that it was a really kind of pop job. A bible next to the bed, a picture of O.J. Simpson's mother, a Norman Rockwell painting of kids going back to school after Brown versus Board of Education. Same thing here. Pictures of the bible, pictures of Michael Jackson's statues of children. Pictures of all kinds of art books. So it was basically a trip through Neverland that made it appear to be a pure, simple place for children. By the -- basically owned by the patron saint of children. But the judge allowed it, in any event.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. Mark Geragos is mentioned, scheduled to take the stand. Anne Bremner, as always, great to get your assessment of what's happening in this trial. Appreciate it.

BREMNER: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: On a Friday morning, looking toward the weekend. What's happening weather-wise?

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a young woman who has autism finds her voice in a unique documentary. We're going to meet the filmmaker who brought her story to the screen.

HEMMER: Also, someone else who has found a way to express himself. His story began with tragic violence and evolved into inspired art work. Back in a moment. Two great stories, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Autism is a world, and it may open your eyes. You may have already heard about this documentary. It was nominated for an Academy Award this year, and this weekend it will be shown on CNN for the first time.

In this short clip, you'll get a feel for the powerful story that you'll see this weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Sue Rubin. I'm 26 years old. I've written these thoughts about my life because I don't really talk. This is not my voice, but these are my words.

Good girl. That's good.

I have autism, and until the age of 13, everyone assumed I was also retarded. Now I live on my own with assistance from others.

All right.

All right.

OK.

Thank you.

I decided to make this film...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Autism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... to bring people into my world of autism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Autism is a world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every year she got older, and her mental age stayed the same, which was at about two and a half. And so by the time she was 13, she still had a mental age of about two and a half. So, that's what we thought, we believed that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I certainly understand why I was assumed to be retarded. All of my very awkward movements and all my nonsense sounds made me appear retarded. Perhaps I was. Voices floated over me. I heard sounds, but not words. It wasn't until I had a communication system that I was able to make sense out of the sounds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"AUTISM IS A WORLD" premieres Sunday on CNN.

And Gerardine Wurzburg is the producer and director. She's live in Washington with me now.

GERARDINE WURZBURG, "AUTISM IS A WORLD": Hi, Bill.

HEMMER: Job well done.

WURZBURG: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Congratulations to you.

One of the things you stress in this documentary is how Susie uses that facilitated type of communication. She is typing on that keyboard. And one of the thing she stresses to you before you she could communicate, she considers herself to it be a nonperson. Why was that? And was that the response she was getting from the people around her in that world?

WURZBURG: I think what the film ends up being about is how we judge people. And because she could not communicate, it was assumed that she was not intelligent. And what her being able to type, and now she types actually independently, she was able to then unlock her mind and tell us what her life was like, and also begin to control the behaviors that were really ruling her at that time.

HEMMER: If she did not have that tool, How would people have responded to her then throughout her life?

WURZBURG: Basically, she was assumed to have an I.Q. of 29. She was assumed to be about a two-and-a-half-year-old, and basically her destiny was very much one of someone who probably would have been, as her mother said, probably she would have been cleaning tables in adulthood.

HEMMER: I mentioned this facilitated communication thing. Is that a bit controversial? Does everyone believe in that?

WURZBURG: Well, there's some people who wonder about it. But I think the important thing with it is to focus on the people who have been successful with it. And with Sue, it was clearly a way that she was able to unlock herself. And I think for people who do it correctly, I think it can be a tremendous gift, and the big thing is it can allow them to let us know where they are, and also for them to be part of our lives.

HEMMER: You explain in this documentary, too, about one of the passions that she revealed to her own mother, and I don't believe her own mother knew about it. Share that with us.

WURZBURG: Sue -- I asked Sue, what were some things she liked to do for fun? She said I love going to the racetrack. I said great, we'll clear the racetrack. (INAUDIBLE). I also asked the mother what she liked to do, and the mother said she loves going to the art museums, but Sue lives independently, so these conversations did not happen together. But I share the production schedule, and the mother called me up and said, what's this racetrack scene you're filming? And the mother had no idea that Sue regularly goes to the racetrack, regularly bets on the horses, and if she wins, they go out for Chinese, and if they don't, they go home and eat leftovers.

HEMMER: Have they eaten a lot of Chinese, though?

WURZBURG: I think they -- she's fairly good. We're not talking big wins here.

HEMMER: Understood. I want to stress one thing. I'm out of time here, Gerardine, but I think one of the points you make is the most important take-away is not to judge these people based on their physical appearance, to see through that and get to the human being that's inside. Job well done. We'll look forward this weekend, OK. Gerardine Wurzburg, the producer and director of "AUTISM IS A WORLD."

WURZBURG: Thank you.

HEMMER: You can see it this weekend, "CNN PRESENTS." That program Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast. What a show it is, too -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" coming up next.

Daryn, good morning to you. What are you working on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, good morning to you.

There's a new twist this morning in an Indiana murder case. Charges could be dropped against one man who confessed to killing a 10-year-old girl after she saw a meth operation near her home. We will tell you why the confessed killer could go free.

Plus, a major development in stem-cell research. For the first time, new cells have been grown to match sick patients. Could this be a cure for several diseases? A look at which country is behind this research and what President Bush has to say about that.

For now, back to you in New York.

O'BRIEN: All right, Daryn, we're looking forward to that. Top of the hour. Thanks a lot.

So what's the connection between Paris Hilton's cell phone and more than 300,000 stolen identities? Andy Serwer has that up next as he minds your business, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We're talking about I.D. theft this morning. What do Paris Hilton and a giant database company have in common? You might think nothing, but you'd be wrong. Also that and an early check of Wall Street. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." Let's talk about I.D. theft.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Let's do that.

Well, let's do a little market first. We have that I.D. theft thing going there, which is just great.

O'BRIEN: Sorry.

SERWER: No, it's OK. It's not your bad. You didn't hit the button. No one did. Let's talk about the market, first of all. Trailing down a bit this morning, as advertised earlier in the program, after being up four days. Down -- what's that, 29 points there. Maytag's going private. It's up 23 percent. America West moving to the upside, as well. The merger with U.S. Air seems to be going through. Sharper Image, for instance, is one stock that's way down, 17 percent down on some kind of rotten earnings after the bell last year.

Some developments in this I.D. theft stories that we've been covering over the past couple of weeks, Soledad. Interesting stuff here. First of all, you remember the Lexis Nexis breach. Hundreds of thousands of identities stolen there, presumably. Reports now that the FBI and the Secret Service has been raiding dozens of homes and seizing computers all across the country, particularly in Northern California, also in Minnesota and in North Carolina. "Wall Street Journal" reporting there.

And in a really interesting development here, "The Washington Post" is reporting there may be a link between the Nexis Lexis (sic) breach and you remember that incident where Paris Hilton's -- there she is -- Paris Hilton's cell phone was hacked.

O'BRIEN: What's the link?

SERWER: Now get this. This is really interesting. Someone at the washingtonpost.com has been corresponding, e-mailing back and forth, with an individual who claims that he is involved in both. And he has provided screens, pages to "The Washington Post" reporter from T-Mobile, which was Paris Hilton's cell phone company, as well as Lexis Nexis.

It used to be pages that you could only get access to if you were an employee of both those companies or if you had hacked them. This individual also said he had been contacted by federal authorities in connection with a Lexis Nexis breach. So I think the government would like us, maybe, to think that it's all part of one big conspiracy. We want to be a little bit careful here that this is all part of one big deal.

O'BRIEN: We'll see. All right, Andy, thanks.

HEMMER: If they're grabbing computers in California, grab all of them, huh?

SERWER: All right.

HEMMER: No, all the ones who are cheating. And get this thing taken care of.

SERWER: That would be a big deal, Bill, to take all the California computers away.

HEMMER: That, too. Here's Jack, "Question of the Day."

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: "Question of the Day," should women be allowed to serve in direct ground combat? They've been looking at this down in Washington. A lot of mail.

Anthony writes from Virginia, "No. They can't do it. Simply put, women's bodies can't take the beating men do. Carrying all the equipment, having dirt ground into your skin and all the small injuries that go along being a professional soldier."

HEMMER: Yow.

SERWER: Nicks and cuts?

CAFFERTY: Uh, hum?

SERWER: Nevermind.

CAFFERTY: Rick in Arkansas writes: "Women police officers often engage in hand-to-hand combat. If women want equal pay and equal treatment, they must share in equal risk. Putting women in combat may cause Americans to pause and think before we go to war and that couldn't be a bad thing."

Sarah in Pennsylvania writes: "Women are not allowed in most combat jobs already, but if they trained with a unit and then are left behind when the unit goes to battle, it's a waste of time and money. What are they supposed to do, make cookies for the men when they return?" Signed, Hillary Clinton.

SERWER: Oh.

O'BRIEN: Sarah. He's kidding.

SERWER: Yes, yes, right. All right.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.

Monday on AMERICAN MORNING, day one of our series. It's called "Surviving Your Family Vacation." We're going to have some tips for a family getaway that won't break the bank. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: As you can see, our debate over the "Question of the Day" goes on. It was a good one, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Carol and I are just...

O'BRIEN: I realize that.

CAFFERTY: ... communing.

COSTELLO: I'm angry, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: However, I -- and you guys, I want you to work it out later. I've got something else to talk about.

"Extra Effort" this week. There's a probation officer in San Francisco with a real passion for art and a dedication to helping a man with a troubled past.

CNN's Rusty Dornin has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLOS CONZALES, PROBATION OFFICER: This is the area right here. This is the wall. So might just use this.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his heart, Carlos Gonzales is an artist. To pay the bills, he's a youth probation officer in San Francisco.

GONZALES: And that's like about maybe 20. 20 from here to there.

DORNIN: Passionate about both, the former gang member sometimes gets to combine the two. But for some at-risk teens, the passion comes too late. Eight years ago, Gonzales escorted Carlos Vargas (ph), then a gang member, back to his home in Mexico. On the way there, the youngster heard the usual sermon.

GONZALES: Gang banging isn't going to lead to anything but you know, the grave, jail, drug addiction.

DORNIN (on camera): But you didn't listen

CARLOS VARGAS, PAINTER: No, I didn't listen to it.

DORNIN: Were you just -- why? Why?

VARGAS: Because I was young and I think everything (INAUDIBLE). I don't think of the consequences.

DORNIN (voice-over): Vargas came back to the U.S., rejoined a gang, and was shot during a fight five years ago. Now he's on a respirator, paralyzed from the neck down. Then, through a program at Saint Luke's Hospital, he picked up a paint brush with his teeth.

VARGAS: After I finish paint, I feel brand new. I feel like my mind is clear.

DORNIN: Unbeknownst to him, Gonzales was painting this mural in the hospital stairwell. Vargas heard about the mural and wanted to see it.

GONZALES: I didn't recognize him, but he remembered me. And that's kind of like how it all snowballed. And when they showed me his portfolio, I felt that, man, I need to help this kid get recognized. It was in his portfolio of paintings and so I saw this one of the parrots and I said, oh, an, this is really cool.

DORNIN: So Gonzales put Vargas' small painting on an overhead projector and recreated it on the wall.

GONZALES: I wound up using sponges and thicker brushes to catch his style and I was able to kind of, like, capture it as best I could. This kid has a beautiful spirit. He's creative, and to go through the tragedy that he went through and to be able to put out artwork like this, you know, I think he needs to be recognized.

DORNIN: Gonzales wants to do other murals with Vargas. He's trying to help him sell of his paintings to support Vargas' 4-year-old son. VARGAS: It's going to put some shadows...

GONZALES: Some shadows?

VARGAS: Some shadows, I think, in this.

GONZALES: Yes. You're getting better with your shading, man.

DORNIN: Vargas says the man who once tried to guide him away from gangs is doing much more than just keeping him busy.

VARGAS: He keeps giving hope, more hope. More inspiration to me.

DORNIN: Inspiration for these men has turned out to be a two-way street.

GONZALES: (INAUDIBLE)

DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And that is a nice story. We're out of time, you guys. See you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend, and let's get right to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired May 20, 2005 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the rain now in New York. Good morning, everyone.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. The jury did not get to hear Larry King's story in the Michael Jackson trial. Anne Bremner did, though. She's going to tell us what he said and tell us why the jurors will never hear it, just ahead.

HEMMER: First, though, top stories and Carol Costello has those. Hello again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I do, indeed. Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," new developments this morning in the case of two missing children in Idaho. They may -- may have been spotted. A new tip has investigators searching for a tall man and a light-colored van, now possibly in northwestern Montana. 8-year-old Shasta and 9- year-old Dylan Groene have not been seen since their mother, older brother and their mother's boyfriend were all found dead on Monday. Their father has this emotional message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GROENE, FATHER OF MISSING CHILDREN: If they can see me or hear me, I want them to know that -- and I know that they know, I love them. And I need them back with me. Everybody's praying for them. And all I can tell them is just please hang in there. This will be over soon. They're coming home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Some $70,000 has been pledged in reward money for information in that case.

U.S. military officials want to know who exactly released these photographs of Saddam Hussein in prison. You've seen them by now. It's on the cover of British tabloid "The Sun." They show the former Iraqi dictator in his underpants. U.S. officials call the photos a possible violation of the Geneva Convention. The military says "The Sun" obtained the photos and then handed them over to military officials to verify. It is believed the photos were taken over a year ago.

Army recruiters are laying down their clipboards today. The unusual move called a stand-down at the response to recent allegations of improper tactics by some recruiters. The Pentagon has ordered 7,500 recruiters nationwide to focus today on recruitment ethics and its rules.

And tennis star Serena Williams will not play in this year's French Open, the tournament she won in 2002. That's according to event organizers. It's apparently due to an ankle injury. Williams has missed more court time lately. She lost the first match at the Italian Open earlier this month and missed the German Open because of a strained ankle. The French Open starts on Monday. She will be missed, because she's such an exciting player.

O'BRIEN: No question about that. All right, Carol, thanks.

Well, the Michael Jackson trial resumes in just about three hours and a former lawyer for the pop star back in the spotlight. Mark Geragos scheduled to return to the stand. That's today. That follows the judge's decision on Thursday not to allow another celebrity witness to testify, CNN's Larry King.

Well, criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner was in the courtroom on Thursday. She's with us this morning. Nice to see you, Anne, as always.

ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nice to see you.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right -- thank you very much. He was on the stand briefly. What did he say?

BREMNER: Well, he said exactly what the defense theories are. He said the accuser's mother was a wacko, and when asked what that meant, he said, "I think that's self-explanatory." He said -- this was said by the attorney for the accuser's mother, that she was a wacko. Said to Larry King that she was also out for the money. And according to Larry King, the lawyer, Mr. Feldman, was not going to represent her because he didn't believe her or her family. Those are the three things for the defense. They're not believable, they're out for the money and the accuser's mom is a wacko.

O'BRIEN: All right, so obviously, helping the defense in a very big way. So why won't jurors hear this testimony?

BREMNER: You know, this is reminiscent of a judge out here in Seattle when I would ask, your honor, may we have the benefit of your reasoning? And he would say, Miss Bremner, I so rule. The judge didn't tell us really a lot about why he disallowed the testimony. He said it wasn't relevant.

And what it comes down to is the attorney Feldman had testified about an opinion he had -- and or, excuse me, Feldman -- King had testified about opinion. Feldman had said it's attorney/client privilege, I didn't say anything. So it wasn't a direct factual rebuttal statement. And it was kept out. It was dynamite evidence against the prosecution. The jury will never hear it.

O'BRIEN: Aja Pryor, though, was heard by the jurors. She's a young woman who had a relationship with the family, in a way. Became friends, kind of them adopted them to some degree. What did she have to say on the stand?

BREMNER: She had to say the following: that the family was never afraid of Michael Jackson, that the mother of the accuser thought Michael Jackson was quote, unquote, "an angel." That there was no false imprisonment, no complaints, and the accuser's mother wanted money again and wanted money from this witness. Finally, she said that there was a broken arm. The accuser had a broken arm from a baseball accident, but you know, that was when he had claimed to have suffered in the J.C. Penney incident. So she was a good witness for the defense, very believable and compelling.

O'BRIEN: Then they played this 20-minute long videotape of, like, a tour through Neverland. Obviously, it's played to the jurors. We don't have that tape. We've got some other videotape of Neverland that we can show. Prosecution had a big problem with that. They said it's obvious propaganda. Explain that to me.

BREMNER: Remember during the O.J. Simpson jury view, there were claims by the prosecution that it was a really kind of pop job. A bible next to the bed, a picture of O.J. Simpson's mother, a Norman Rockwell painting of kids going back to school after Brown versus Board of Education. Same thing here. Pictures of the bible, pictures of Michael Jackson's statues of children. Pictures of all kinds of art books. So it was basically a trip through Neverland that made it appear to be a pure, simple place for children. By the -- basically owned by the patron saint of children. But the judge allowed it, in any event.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. Mark Geragos is mentioned, scheduled to take the stand. Anne Bremner, as always, great to get your assessment of what's happening in this trial. Appreciate it.

BREMNER: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: On a Friday morning, looking toward the weekend. What's happening weather-wise?

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a young woman who has autism finds her voice in a unique documentary. We're going to meet the filmmaker who brought her story to the screen.

HEMMER: Also, someone else who has found a way to express himself. His story began with tragic violence and evolved into inspired art work. Back in a moment. Two great stories, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Autism is a world, and it may open your eyes. You may have already heard about this documentary. It was nominated for an Academy Award this year, and this weekend it will be shown on CNN for the first time.

In this short clip, you'll get a feel for the powerful story that you'll see this weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Sue Rubin. I'm 26 years old. I've written these thoughts about my life because I don't really talk. This is not my voice, but these are my words.

Good girl. That's good.

I have autism, and until the age of 13, everyone assumed I was also retarded. Now I live on my own with assistance from others.

All right.

All right.

OK.

Thank you.

I decided to make this film...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Autism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... to bring people into my world of autism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Autism is a world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every year she got older, and her mental age stayed the same, which was at about two and a half. And so by the time she was 13, she still had a mental age of about two and a half. So, that's what we thought, we believed that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I certainly understand why I was assumed to be retarded. All of my very awkward movements and all my nonsense sounds made me appear retarded. Perhaps I was. Voices floated over me. I heard sounds, but not words. It wasn't until I had a communication system that I was able to make sense out of the sounds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"AUTISM IS A WORLD" premieres Sunday on CNN.

And Gerardine Wurzburg is the producer and director. She's live in Washington with me now.

GERARDINE WURZBURG, "AUTISM IS A WORLD": Hi, Bill.

HEMMER: Job well done.

WURZBURG: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Congratulations to you.

One of the things you stress in this documentary is how Susie uses that facilitated type of communication. She is typing on that keyboard. And one of the thing she stresses to you before you she could communicate, she considers herself to it be a nonperson. Why was that? And was that the response she was getting from the people around her in that world?

WURZBURG: I think what the film ends up being about is how we judge people. And because she could not communicate, it was assumed that she was not intelligent. And what her being able to type, and now she types actually independently, she was able to then unlock her mind and tell us what her life was like, and also begin to control the behaviors that were really ruling her at that time.

HEMMER: If she did not have that tool, How would people have responded to her then throughout her life?

WURZBURG: Basically, she was assumed to have an I.Q. of 29. She was assumed to be about a two-and-a-half-year-old, and basically her destiny was very much one of someone who probably would have been, as her mother said, probably she would have been cleaning tables in adulthood.

HEMMER: I mentioned this facilitated communication thing. Is that a bit controversial? Does everyone believe in that?

WURZBURG: Well, there's some people who wonder about it. But I think the important thing with it is to focus on the people who have been successful with it. And with Sue, it was clearly a way that she was able to unlock herself. And I think for people who do it correctly, I think it can be a tremendous gift, and the big thing is it can allow them to let us know where they are, and also for them to be part of our lives.

HEMMER: You explain in this documentary, too, about one of the passions that she revealed to her own mother, and I don't believe her own mother knew about it. Share that with us.

WURZBURG: Sue -- I asked Sue, what were some things she liked to do for fun? She said I love going to the racetrack. I said great, we'll clear the racetrack. (INAUDIBLE). I also asked the mother what she liked to do, and the mother said she loves going to the art museums, but Sue lives independently, so these conversations did not happen together. But I share the production schedule, and the mother called me up and said, what's this racetrack scene you're filming? And the mother had no idea that Sue regularly goes to the racetrack, regularly bets on the horses, and if she wins, they go out for Chinese, and if they don't, they go home and eat leftovers.

HEMMER: Have they eaten a lot of Chinese, though?

WURZBURG: I think they -- she's fairly good. We're not talking big wins here.

HEMMER: Understood. I want to stress one thing. I'm out of time here, Gerardine, but I think one of the points you make is the most important take-away is not to judge these people based on their physical appearance, to see through that and get to the human being that's inside. Job well done. We'll look forward this weekend, OK. Gerardine Wurzburg, the producer and director of "AUTISM IS A WORLD."

WURZBURG: Thank you.

HEMMER: You can see it this weekend, "CNN PRESENTS." That program Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast. What a show it is, too -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" coming up next.

Daryn, good morning to you. What are you working on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, good morning to you.

There's a new twist this morning in an Indiana murder case. Charges could be dropped against one man who confessed to killing a 10-year-old girl after she saw a meth operation near her home. We will tell you why the confessed killer could go free.

Plus, a major development in stem-cell research. For the first time, new cells have been grown to match sick patients. Could this be a cure for several diseases? A look at which country is behind this research and what President Bush has to say about that.

For now, back to you in New York.

O'BRIEN: All right, Daryn, we're looking forward to that. Top of the hour. Thanks a lot.

So what's the connection between Paris Hilton's cell phone and more than 300,000 stolen identities? Andy Serwer has that up next as he minds your business, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We're talking about I.D. theft this morning. What do Paris Hilton and a giant database company have in common? You might think nothing, but you'd be wrong. Also that and an early check of Wall Street. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." Let's talk about I.D. theft.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Let's do that.

Well, let's do a little market first. We have that I.D. theft thing going there, which is just great.

O'BRIEN: Sorry.

SERWER: No, it's OK. It's not your bad. You didn't hit the button. No one did. Let's talk about the market, first of all. Trailing down a bit this morning, as advertised earlier in the program, after being up four days. Down -- what's that, 29 points there. Maytag's going private. It's up 23 percent. America West moving to the upside, as well. The merger with U.S. Air seems to be going through. Sharper Image, for instance, is one stock that's way down, 17 percent down on some kind of rotten earnings after the bell last year.

Some developments in this I.D. theft stories that we've been covering over the past couple of weeks, Soledad. Interesting stuff here. First of all, you remember the Lexis Nexis breach. Hundreds of thousands of identities stolen there, presumably. Reports now that the FBI and the Secret Service has been raiding dozens of homes and seizing computers all across the country, particularly in Northern California, also in Minnesota and in North Carolina. "Wall Street Journal" reporting there.

And in a really interesting development here, "The Washington Post" is reporting there may be a link between the Nexis Lexis (sic) breach and you remember that incident where Paris Hilton's -- there she is -- Paris Hilton's cell phone was hacked.

O'BRIEN: What's the link?

SERWER: Now get this. This is really interesting. Someone at the washingtonpost.com has been corresponding, e-mailing back and forth, with an individual who claims that he is involved in both. And he has provided screens, pages to "The Washington Post" reporter from T-Mobile, which was Paris Hilton's cell phone company, as well as Lexis Nexis.

It used to be pages that you could only get access to if you were an employee of both those companies or if you had hacked them. This individual also said he had been contacted by federal authorities in connection with a Lexis Nexis breach. So I think the government would like us, maybe, to think that it's all part of one big conspiracy. We want to be a little bit careful here that this is all part of one big deal.

O'BRIEN: We'll see. All right, Andy, thanks.

HEMMER: If they're grabbing computers in California, grab all of them, huh?

SERWER: All right.

HEMMER: No, all the ones who are cheating. And get this thing taken care of.

SERWER: That would be a big deal, Bill, to take all the California computers away.

HEMMER: That, too. Here's Jack, "Question of the Day."

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: "Question of the Day," should women be allowed to serve in direct ground combat? They've been looking at this down in Washington. A lot of mail.

Anthony writes from Virginia, "No. They can't do it. Simply put, women's bodies can't take the beating men do. Carrying all the equipment, having dirt ground into your skin and all the small injuries that go along being a professional soldier."

HEMMER: Yow.

SERWER: Nicks and cuts?

CAFFERTY: Uh, hum?

SERWER: Nevermind.

CAFFERTY: Rick in Arkansas writes: "Women police officers often engage in hand-to-hand combat. If women want equal pay and equal treatment, they must share in equal risk. Putting women in combat may cause Americans to pause and think before we go to war and that couldn't be a bad thing."

Sarah in Pennsylvania writes: "Women are not allowed in most combat jobs already, but if they trained with a unit and then are left behind when the unit goes to battle, it's a waste of time and money. What are they supposed to do, make cookies for the men when they return?" Signed, Hillary Clinton.

SERWER: Oh.

O'BRIEN: Sarah. He's kidding.

SERWER: Yes, yes, right. All right.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.

Monday on AMERICAN MORNING, day one of our series. It's called "Surviving Your Family Vacation." We're going to have some tips for a family getaway that won't break the bank. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: As you can see, our debate over the "Question of the Day" goes on. It was a good one, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Carol and I are just...

O'BRIEN: I realize that.

CAFFERTY: ... communing.

COSTELLO: I'm angry, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: However, I -- and you guys, I want you to work it out later. I've got something else to talk about.

"Extra Effort" this week. There's a probation officer in San Francisco with a real passion for art and a dedication to helping a man with a troubled past.

CNN's Rusty Dornin has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLOS CONZALES, PROBATION OFFICER: This is the area right here. This is the wall. So might just use this.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his heart, Carlos Gonzales is an artist. To pay the bills, he's a youth probation officer in San Francisco.

GONZALES: And that's like about maybe 20. 20 from here to there.

DORNIN: Passionate about both, the former gang member sometimes gets to combine the two. But for some at-risk teens, the passion comes too late. Eight years ago, Gonzales escorted Carlos Vargas (ph), then a gang member, back to his home in Mexico. On the way there, the youngster heard the usual sermon.

GONZALES: Gang banging isn't going to lead to anything but you know, the grave, jail, drug addiction.

DORNIN (on camera): But you didn't listen

CARLOS VARGAS, PAINTER: No, I didn't listen to it.

DORNIN: Were you just -- why? Why?

VARGAS: Because I was young and I think everything (INAUDIBLE). I don't think of the consequences.

DORNIN (voice-over): Vargas came back to the U.S., rejoined a gang, and was shot during a fight five years ago. Now he's on a respirator, paralyzed from the neck down. Then, through a program at Saint Luke's Hospital, he picked up a paint brush with his teeth.

VARGAS: After I finish paint, I feel brand new. I feel like my mind is clear.

DORNIN: Unbeknownst to him, Gonzales was painting this mural in the hospital stairwell. Vargas heard about the mural and wanted to see it.

GONZALES: I didn't recognize him, but he remembered me. And that's kind of like how it all snowballed. And when they showed me his portfolio, I felt that, man, I need to help this kid get recognized. It was in his portfolio of paintings and so I saw this one of the parrots and I said, oh, an, this is really cool.

DORNIN: So Gonzales put Vargas' small painting on an overhead projector and recreated it on the wall.

GONZALES: I wound up using sponges and thicker brushes to catch his style and I was able to kind of, like, capture it as best I could. This kid has a beautiful spirit. He's creative, and to go through the tragedy that he went through and to be able to put out artwork like this, you know, I think he needs to be recognized.

DORNIN: Gonzales wants to do other murals with Vargas. He's trying to help him sell of his paintings to support Vargas' 4-year-old son. VARGAS: It's going to put some shadows...

GONZALES: Some shadows?

VARGAS: Some shadows, I think, in this.

GONZALES: Yes. You're getting better with your shading, man.

DORNIN: Vargas says the man who once tried to guide him away from gangs is doing much more than just keeping him busy.

VARGAS: He keeps giving hope, more hope. More inspiration to me.

DORNIN: Inspiration for these men has turned out to be a two-way street.

GONZALES: (INAUDIBLE)

DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And that is a nice story. We're out of time, you guys. See you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend, and let's get right to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center.

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