Carly's café opens the door to understanding autism

Carly Fleischmann is a 17-year-old Toronto teen who was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of two. After years of intense therapy, Carly learned to type on a keyboard and, with the help of her father Arthur Fleischmann (founder and partner of John St.), co-authored a book called Carly's Voice.

Using anecdotes from the book, the agency created an interactive website called "Carly's Café" to bring her personal experiences to life and have people virtually "feel" what it's like to suffer from autism.

Site visitors were invited to explore the online café where Carly and her father and sister sit down for a drink (a scene she describes in her book). But instead of being able to control and scroll around the web page, the mouse icon fails to respond, making it difficult to navigate the screen. This loss of control is gradual and ends in disturbing sounds and constant chaos - mimicking the loss of control that Carly experiences.

The video of the café scene and the microsite were seeded to Carly's Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as through autism advocates and influential bloggers. Carly's Café also recently won a Silver Cyber Lion at the 2013 Cannes Festival.