SunTrust has developed a financial toolkit to help parents of children with special needs create a financial plan. Specifically, one in 68 children in the U.S. have autism. More children than ever before have been diagnosed with Autism. This is a disease that is incurable but can be treatable at tremendous costs. According to the CDC, estimated costs to care for a child with Autism compared to one without would be $21,000 or more per year depending on the severity of it. It includes the costs for healthcare, education, therapy, caregiver time and family-coordinated services.

As a testament to SunTrust’s continued support for families dealing with special needs like autism, in the Spring of 2018, SunTrust teamed up with our agency to create a film about an autistic girl named Charlotte, her beautiful world, and the challenge of connecting with her mother.

Each location selected carried something extraordinary yet subtle, ultimately becoming the foundation for each scene. Every scene has its own unique style as we see the girl explore her mesmerizing world. She stumbles upon a magical fish in one breathtaking scene, which we created using visual effects.

The goal was to create a creature that represents wisdom and at the same time we wanted it to be based on the natural elements, water, fire, air, and so on. The challenge was to make the magical fish look as if it was swimming under water but actually doing it in-between trees of the amazing forest chosen for the film. We also added the appearance of the fish emitting light to interact with the environment. The result turned out to be even better than the expected.