The Springtime of Autumn (1971)

Director	Bruce Bittle and Bud Lawrence
Producer	Oregon Center for Gerontology
Contributors	Oregon State Program on Aging, Administration on Aging (Washington, D.C.)
Length	20 minutes
B&W/Color	Color
UO Library Catalog description:	Follows volunteers from the Foster Grandparents Program as they work with and teach developmentally disabled children from Fairview Hospital and Training Center in Salem, OR
Call #	FILM MB221
Genre	Documentary
Rare	Yes
Online	No
Copyright status	Protected
Physical condition	Fair
Oregon-related	yes

Notes:

This film documents the Foster Grandparents Program set up by the Oregon Center for Gerontology. The program is designed to couple senior citizens with mentally challenged youth in a one-on-one setting. This serves not only as a learning aid for the children, but also as therapy for the older generation.

In a review published in The Gerontologist magazine, University of Oregon’s own Professors Carl Carmichael and Larry Wittnebert had this to say about the film:

“Seeing a ‘Grandmother’ teach a retarded child how to thread a wire through a spool or a ‘Grandfather’ prepare a physically handicapped child for swimming therapy causes the viewer to transcend the specific material at hand, and consider such things as the appropriateness of some of the normal characteristics of aging in dealing with the special problems of these children. The film subtly but clearly leads the viewer to consider how the elderly are especially well equipped to fill some of the gaps in our present medical assistance systems with a little extra patience, compassion, child-rearing experience, and time.”

Soft guitar music accompanies the film, provided by musician Dick Cooley.

The film was primarily shot at Fairview Hospital in Salem, and includes scenes from a visit to the Portland Zoological Gardens.