SPECTRUM OF HOPE is the story of 10 musical theater students, their families, and their teachers as they go on a journey from their special needs school in New York City's Lower East Side to the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a beautiful moment in all of their lives - a celebration of the power of arts education, musical theater, and what can be accomplished when students are allowed to flourish on their own terms.—Anonymous

SPECTRUM OF HOPE is the story of 10 musical theater students, their families, and their teachers as they go on a journey from their special needs school in New York City's Lower East Side to the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a beautiful moment in all of their lives - a celebration of the power of arts education, musical theater, and what can be accomplished when students are allowed to flourish on their own terms. P94M - The Spectrum School - is part of the NYC Department of Education's District 75, which is dedicated to educating students with special needs. It is the only District 75 school dedicated to the performing arts - and it was once a school in crisis. Students at P94M come from diverse backgrounds - Hispanic, Palestinian, Nigerian - and their challenges are as unique as they are. Over the past few years, The Spectrum School has evolved, working with artists from NYC-based ArtsConnection and utilizing the tools that arts education uniquely provides for improving communication and teamwork. When these students got to Atlanta, they faced new challenges both as budding artists and young teens - performing and socializing within a sea of 4,000 singing, screaming middle-school students from all over the country. They had never before participated in such a large, chaotic event - and they came into it on an even playing field with their neurotypical peers, who were not told that there was anything different about them. Although already in middle school, many of the Spectrum School students had never spent a night away from home; most of them had never before flown in a plane - and none of them got to regularly enjoy the sorts of social activities that many other children are able to take for granted. At home, their world is defined by constant structure; in Atlanta, they got to go on an adventure - experiencing the kinds of encounters that serve as a right of passage for so many kids their age. Walking into a dark, cavernous room full of flashing lights and loud crowds, these students stepped boldly into the unknown - and, although none of them knew what would come next, they they met this new world with open hearts.—Danny Mendoza (Director, Producer)