The 1988 film "Rain Man," starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, tells the story of an autistic savant and his initially self-absorbed brother. The movie effectively demonstrates the very different way persons with autism think and act compared with "normal" people. At the same time, it also portrays the very human qualities an autistic person possesses, and many ways they are the same as everyone else.

Charlie Babbit (Tom Cruise) at the beginning of the movie is a stubborn, closed-minded man whose every action seems to benefit only himself. His priorities are severely out of order. He is profoundly emotional over things such as money, and yet doesn't seem to care about what his girlfriend wants or thinks. Most shockingly, he is practically unaffected when he learns that his father has died. He even becomes mad at him for not leaving him with his 3 million-dollar estate. He soon discovers...