PBS Kids this week is premiering Carl the Collector, a new children’s series about an anthropomorphic raccoon named Carl who is autistic. Carl lives in Fuzzytown and, true to his name, loves collecting things and has a particularly keen eye for detail. The animated series, which slots right into PBS Kids’ target audience of children ages 4–8, is the brainchild of bestselling author and illustrator Zachariah OHora.
In an interview ahead of the show’s premiere, OHora explained to me Carl’s character stems from a personal place, as OHora said he “loves” raccoons and has amassed “thousands” of records in his office. His son is also a collector in his own right and, in 2015, was just starting his academic career. OHora said his son attended an inclusion school, which he described the idea as “everybody in the district should have the same access to the teacher and to the classroom setting and [social experience] with other kids as anybody else, no matter what your needs are.” His son “immediately became friends” with everyone in his class, which was a “lightbulb moment” for his dad. OHora grew up differently, and his was amazed at the positivity. He looked around his son’s classroom and saw how integrating neurodiverse children with their neurotypical peers helped them, not hinder them by segregating the two groups. It’s “so important,” OHora told me, neurotypical kids concretely understand not everybody thinks in the same way; everyone’s brain works differently.
Carl the Collector “strives to expose that to everybody,” OHora said.
The show has true poignancy to Lisa Whittick as well, who serves as director. In an interview concurrent to OHora’s, she explained one of her three children has autism. Because of his diagnosis, Whittick asserted she understands “firsthand” how the autistic community is depicted in media. Showrunners are well-intended, she said, but the representation of autistic people in film and on television is “not done quite right” because none of the creative processes involve actual autistic individuals. What makes Carl the Collector special for Whittick is it’s done right: there are autistic writers, artists, and people like herself giving input.
“It means a whole lot to me to be able to contribute to a show like this where [accurate representation] is a priority,” Whittick said. “It’s honestly been the most joyful experience for me, because I feel like my two worlds have come together. My professional life and my personal life have come together for this incredible show. I couldn’t be happier.”
Apart from Carl and others, there are characters on Carl the Collector who have other intellectual disabilities such as ADHD. According to OHora, the show’s creators have made a concerted effort to “show all of humanity and celebrate it.” He added it’s important to get children to understand how people with invisible disabilities struggle with concepts like proper social interaction, showing their emotions, and more. For her part, Whittick said the show talks about disclosing one’s disability as well; one character has autism but she chooses not to tell people about it.
“[Disability is] a big subject matter,” Whittick said of the major themes explored in this first season of Carl the Collector. “We wanted to make sure we left the space there to explore and let the kids act things out in an appropriate amount of time where the audience could absorb it all.”
“We, as a network, believe [Carl the Collector] is one of those great origin stories for a show,” said Sara DeWitt, vice president of PBS Kids Digital. “We really feel like every child should have the opportunity to see themselves in media. When children do see positive representations of kids who look like them and who approach the world the way they do, they have stronger self esteem and they do better in school as well.”
Both OHora and DeWitt told me Carl the Collector took a while to grow from conception to fruition, with both also forthright in telling me OHora had never worked on a TV show before now. It took some time to get all the pieces to fit together in the proverbial puzzle, but fit they have. DeWitt was effusive in her praise of how Carl the Collector not only is a mirror for children to see like-minded people on screen, it’s also a window into how children who are different from them live their lives. It exposes them to empathy. Moreover, she noted how the series helps reinforce the notion that “inclusive environments are fun and you can learn a lot from kids who approach things differently than you.”
“I think that’s a great a great takeaway from the show,” DeWitt said.
OHora and Whittick are ecstatic Carl the Collector is on public television. OHora called PBS Kids “the perfect home for this kind of show” and said he grew up watching the network. He said PBS is “different” from more corporate media because they’re not “dollar driven” in their pursuits; he admires PBS for its mission to “authentically represent the world and teach kids what the world is about.” Whittick echoed those sentiments, saying she’s spent her entire career working on PBS programming and told me “it never gets old.” She expressed her excitement for projects like Carl the Collector because she’s confident in PBS Kids’ ability to “reach so many kids who need to see this content.”
Feedback has been positive thus far, with OHora, Whittick, and DeWitt all telling me they’re extremely excited to see the show debut and resonate with audiences. As to the future, OHora and Whittick told me it’s “surreal” to see the series out there and simply hope people “love” it. The creative team has lots of story ideas, with OHora teasing there’s a non-speaking character coming later this season. This season is the first of hopefully many, OHora told me, with the goal being “we can keep seeing different representation through the lens of Carl and Fuzzytown.”
“I hope [Carl the Collector] encourages other producers to not be afraid of showing other disabilities or autism—the whole spectrum of humanity,” Whittick said. “I really hope producers will find the courage to see that it doesn’t have to be a fully educational show that bores people… it can be entertaining [and] fun and these characters can be endearing. We just see them where they are. Maybe it’ll be the start of more representation in the media at large. That would be wonderful.”
DeWitt and PBS Kids are proud to carry Carl and friends.
“We, as a network, jumped at the opportunity to do a show like this, even though it was coming from someone who had never made a show before, because we felt like it was such an important story that was going to connect with so many kids in our audience and so many families in our audience,” she said. “It’s something we feel is core to who PBS Kids is in the lives of kids in the United States. I don’t know many other networks would necessarily jump at a show like this—it reinforces our commitment to making sure we are really reflecting stories that aren’t told as often and making sure all kids see themselves represented well.”