Stephen Gibler ’09: From the Isolation of Asperger’s to an LA Producer
When Stephen Gibler ’09 started life, he had some challenges to face—not the least of which is the fact that he has Aspergers syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. By his own admission, he hated high school and was an average student. He went through life in a fog, not really understanding the world around him. Unable to manage the social interactions that allow friendships, he withdrew at a young age into worlds and characters he created in his head. His rich life of the imagination drew him to a fascination with movies and their creation.
After he graduated, he came to Keene State, where things continued to be rocky. However, members of the KSC community, including Director of Disability Services Jane Warner and Professor of Psychology Larry Welkowitz, who is pioneering research into autism, helped him get his feet under him and tap into the amazing potential he brought with him.
“Steve was the kind of student profs dream of having around, brimming with talent and creativity. He was ready for moving to the next level … all he needed was a little reinforcement and connection. But in truth I learned a lot more from Steve than he learned from me,” Dr. Welkowitz remembered.
“Stephen Gibler was ready to grow when he came to campus and the opportunities came to him,” Warner said. “He was not afraid to challenge himself … I would concur with Larry, Steve taught me more about living life and not being afraid to go after the stuff that challenges you.”
Finally, Normal Friends
Gibler began to blossom and make strides into the world of learning and social interaction. “KSC was where I had normal friends for the first time in my life and actually experienced some forms of success,” he recalled. “I joined a frat, Delta Nu Psi, which gave me a network of friends and life experiences that allowed me to really let loose and enjoy life for the first time. And to grow up as a person. I was an editor for The Equinox and a representative on student government. KSC was instrumental in helping me get from nothing to something.”
He created an individualized major for himself, Professional Film and Journalism Studies. “I had to make a lot of bad films designed around bad ideas, and, thankfully, I wasn’t kicked out of the program because of them,” Gibler said. “My professors were understanding and allowed me to learn filmmaking in such a forgiving way I finally started making good films. Film Lecturer Lance Levesque really taught me to work hard and how to be relentless about what I had to do. The journalism component of my major really helped me understand the media as a filmmaker and understand how art and media can have such a powerful convergence.”
All the hard work paid off, because Gibler went on to earn a masters degree at the University of Southern California, one of the top film schools in the country. In 2012 he was awarded the USC First Look Producer of the Year Award for the film Volcano Girl. He’s still in LA, heads his own production company, Origin Cinematics, and recently produced a comedy, Bread and Butter, starring Christine Weatherup (Star Kid, Blink, Crossing), Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live, Monsters University, Inside Out), and Lauren Lapkus (Jurassic World, Blended, and Are You Here), and a drama, September 12th that will be out in 2016.
Talk about overcoming adversity! If you’d like to know more about Gibler’s development at Keene State, read the graduation speech he gave. It was published in The Autism Perspective.
