Why Filmmaking?

Filmmaking is a powerful form of communication that can transcend language. It gives people a visual way to share their stories, ideas, and experiences. In so doing, movies can foster greater communiction, connection, and understanding.

We created the Filmmaking for Everyone initiative to offer youth with developmental delays and learning differences another way to express themselves and participate in the broader filmmaking community.

This website shares practical ideas on how to increase the accessibility of filmmaking. It is designed as a starting point that can be adapted and replicated in other communities.

If you are a filmmaker who is inspired by this approach, you can begin by reaching out to local community organizations that support youth with developmental delays and learning differences. Together, you can create a filmmaking program that reflects the interests and needs of your community, while drawing on the Filmmaking for Everyone curriculum as a foundation. 

Please let us know how it goes. And share the films that are created in the process!

In the Fall of 2024, I volunteered as a videographer for PAASS (Project Awareness and Special Sports), a local organization that creates extracurricular opportunities for youth with developmental delays and learning differences. I liked their approach to expanding access to extracurricular activities: "Everyone participates. No one keeps score." On weekends, I began filming for their sports teams. Participants were interested in both my camera and the film clips of themselves and their friends. This excitement sparked the idea to create a course on how to make movies for youth and young adults with developmental delays and learning differences.

In partnership with PAASS, I built and launched "Filmmaking for Everyone" in the spring of 2025. Over the course of five weekend sessions, participants learned about the fundamentals - from storytelling arcs through camera angles and much more. Then, the group made their own movies, with local high school volunteers and family members assisting as needed. The class culminated in a world premiere of the films, hosted at a local screening room which was donated for the event. 

The results? An opportunity for people with developmental delays and learning differences to express themselves in a visual medium. A broadening of who gets to tell stories and create short films. A chance for families, friends, and community members to experience the world from new vantage points. And, the creation of a fun, inclusive community.  

We also showed that filmmaking is for everyone. 

This site shares our approach on how to increase the accessibility of filmmaking. It offers a starting point, which hopefully will be built upon in many communities around the world. 

PAASS (Project Awareness and Special Sports) is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering inclusive opportunities for individuals with developmental delays and learning differences through sports and extracurricular activities.

Specifically, the organizational mission is to create an inclusive, supportive environment for individuals with developmental delays and learning differences and to enable them to participate in community-based sports and recreational programs.

You can learn more on the PAASS website or through the 2026 documentary that shows how the organization fosters personal growth, acceptance, and inclusion, while teaching the community about the transformative power of adaptive sports and arts. 

By celebrating differences and fostering a deeper sense of belonging, PAASS offers as a powerful blueprint for other communities to explore.

Magnus Waage-Pickle is a high school student who has been making films for over six years. He has created twenty short films, including one that won Special Recognition from the SF Bay Area Creative Foundation and was screened at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens in the summer of 2025. Another one of his movies was a semifinalist and among the top 21 films in the 2024 Youth Free Expression Film Contest. 

During the summer of 2026, Magnus will be studying filmmaking at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts Summer Program (USC SCA). Previously, he has been a student at the School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA) at Occidental College; the Oxford Royale’s Film Academy Summer School in the U.K., and SF Film’s Documentary Filmmaking and Activism Workshop. He has been a volunteer videographer for PAASS, Play Marin, and the Kala Art Institute. In addition, he volunteers at the Mill Valley Film Festival, SF DocLands Documentary Film Festival, and the SF International Film Festival. 

When he is not behind the camera or studying, Magnus runs cross-country and track.