"Carina, Connor, Nick, and Sarah want[ed] to live the lives they want, but not able to do so because they were being held back by the misconceptions largely held by the educational professionals that they had to interact with. Through watching Do You Dream in Color?, you can tell that their motivations, drives, and activities were definitely age appropriate, but their ability to achieve their goals was being blocked! We dream of futures of equality and opportunity just like everybody else does. The thing that these people had in common were the restrictions being imposed on them because of artificial barriers due to blindness. Do You Dream in Color? tells that story in spades!! By meeting the tell it like it is standard about blindness, which was set by Dr. Jacob Bolotin, Abigail Fuller and Sarah Ivy have produced a film that is being used to kick down the walls of prejudice, ignorance, and discrimination. This is in furtherance of Jacob Bolotin's mission and the story of the blind doctor. We can live the lives we want." - James Gashel
"As a film critic with a disability, I'm a paraplegic/double amputee with spina bifida, I was prepared to resist Do You Dream in Color?, yet I found myself won over by its winning young people and Fuller and Ivy's balanced portrayal of the joys and occasional sorrows of growing up with a visual impairment. In a world that continues to offer up so many obstacles that some would consider insurmountable, you will be both entertained and inspired by the hopeful and determined spirits of Connor, Nick, Sarah and Carina." – Richard Propes, The Independent Critic
"A firm kick to … anyone complaining that life is hard for them, this inspiring doc follows four extremely spirited and inspirational blind kids who refuse to let their disability define their life. ... Would have loved to have seen the doc go a tad more investigatory on sides opposing some of the fab four (interviews with school officials for Carina and folks who decide the grants for the sightless to travel abroad for Sarah), but as far as a piece that projects their plight and power, the color of courage here is clear." – Jason Coleman
"This is a super film. I[t] will move you not only because the kids are doing great things but because you will realize the injustices that are being done to them and similar kids. It’s a film that will touch your head and your heart and is highly recommended." -- Steve Kopian, Unseen Films
"For so many of us, high school just downright sucked. The struggles of dealing with that … awkward and developmental period between adolescence and pending adulthood can be a real painful, sometimes embarrassing, and downright horrifying time. … So imagine if blindness were just another stick in [the] spokes of the proverbial bicycle tire that is high school life? Well, that is exactly what the beautiful souls who act as the main subjects in the documentary Do You Dream in Color? are going through, and their unique and individual experiences make for an extremely humbling experience of a film." – Trainwreck'd Society
"The public education system … is a massive obstacle for several of our protagonists. Some of the most riveting and poignant instances in the affair are derived from the fight several of these youth wage. This is to get more relevant resources for the unsighted into their own personal learning assembly. The labor then becomes as much about their ability to shatter the faux notion of limitation. They all yearn, regardless of their drive, to be perceived as every bit as capable of understanding and obtaining knowledge as their collective peers.” – Andrew Buckner, Awordofdreams.com
Awards
Winner: Audience Choice
San Luis Obispo International Film FestivalWinner: Advocacy Award
Superfest: International Disability Film FestivalWinner: Best Director of a Documentary
Chain New York City Film FestivalOfficial Selection:
- Plaza Classic Film Festival
- Long Beach Indie Film Festival
- Chagrin Falls Documentary Film Festival
- Tallgrass Film Festival
- Dallas International Film Festival
- Reno Tahoe Film Festival
- Crested Butte Film Festival