The autistic children who trust their blind therapis

“Ermanno used to be impulsive. Much more than he is now.

He used to break everything and throw things. Wolfgang just didn’t know what to do with a child like that.”

And yet Wolfgang Fasser, a musician, therapist and ‘sound seeker’, was able to establish a profound human and professional contact with Ermanno, as well as with many other children with autism. He managed to change their lives, despite his own blindness, which occurred when he was 22 due to a genetic disease that has never cramped his creativity.

‘Nel giardino dei suoni’ is a documentary filmed by Nicola Bellucci, which tells his magical story.

“In 1999, I founded the musical improvisation workshop, Il Trillo. Children from all backgrounds come to me but especially working-class children. They come as they are and the music that we play together is the fruit of our meetings,” says Wolfgang. “My job,” he adds, “is to create an environment that allows the children to deal with their world and in which they can fully express their curiosity, their desire to play and their impulses. It fascinates me to watch the skills young people with disabilities can develop, through games or creative activities.”

With sound and silence, soul and illness in perfect harmony, it’s a quiet and relentless environment that only a professional of Wolfgang’s caliber could create.

Filmmaker Bellucci, emotionally affected by his the music therapist, is aware of this. He learned a lot during the precious moments of filming in which, alone, he recorded the progress gradually achieved by the children, particularly during the delicate therapeutic sessions.

“We’re talking about being present in very intimate situations, some of which were at the limit even for me.


In a setting that mustn’t be disturbed in any way, he manages to create an environment where there is great trust and these children, despite the severity of their disorder, feel that. Gradually, they all forgot my presence – except Ermanno!” Bellucci jokes.

Wolfgang’s approach to music therapy is a type of ‘controlled improvisation’, which the director also followed during shooting.


Following a path, a magical one of sound, that lets things flow. The result is the same as therapy: a song with a lesson. As Wolfgang says: “We aren’t the same after we have learned to listen. This is what my film aims to be: praise for the listening man.”


Source : Welfare Society Territory , 26th May 2014