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How the Titanic became my lifeboat 

is based on a true story about an Icelandic boy called Brynjar Karl and how his fascination with the Titanic became his lifeline to independence.  Brynjar’s story began with an insatiable desire to escape the limitations of autism and become a part of the expressive, vibrant world around him.  His fascination with Titanic pointed the way, his untapped talents set wheels in motion.  While there is no cure for autism, there are ways to challenge it.  The film explores those possibilities with Brynjar and other young people who share their experiences being on the autism spectrum and how their talent elevated them. Brynjar has become an important advocate for young people on the autism spectrum calling after acceptance and inclusion in the school systems and workplaces for people on the spectrum. 

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Brynjar and his awareness goals 

Together Brynjar Karl and his mom Bjarney have over the years been actively communicating the importance of acceptance and induction in the community, Brynjar by sharing his own experience being on the autism spectrum on this Facebook page and his mom as a filmmaker and a passionate supporter for the cause. 

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How the documentary about Brynjar Karl came to life 

In 2015 Bjarney, Brynjar´s mom started to follow the 10-year-old Brynjar with the camera. Every once in a while she followed him in his daily life, but her main mission was to follow his journey towards his dream goal which was to build a 6.33-meter replica of the RMS Titanic using over 70 thousand LEGO bricks. In the beginning, It was only to make a short "behind the scenes" video but it turned out that the project would change Brynjar's life and his family as well.

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Brynjar was diagnosed on the higher end of the autism spectrum with a speech disorder, when he was four years old, he was struggling socially and in school, with poor communication skills.  He was better on the sideline and therefore he became isolated and alone.  At the beginning of his building process, it was not clear if he would manage to finish his masterpiece, he did not have the patience to focus for few minutes and do his homework and now he was going to build the world's largest LEGO Titanic replica.  But what happened in the building process is what the documentary is all about and is why Bjarney and Brynjar had to share the story with the world. While Brynjar was building his model, his story went viral on all the major local and international news platforms, they all thought it was interesting that a boy with autism was building a replica of the Titanic. Therefore many reporters came to visit him at the building site to take his interview and slowly his communication and speech grew better and he was showing signs of having better stamina in his everyday life.

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Brynjar managed to build his dream ship out of LEGO, but not only that, he was able to share his story on the TED X stage, change from being in a special classroom for kids with disabilities to a normal classroom, and make a lot of friends all around the world.  This journey taught Brynjars mom a lot as a director and opened up a whole new world about the autism spectrum and how it's possible to use a talent and passion to grow skills and a stronger individual. Today Brynjar is a member of the student council at his school and is aiming to become a captain one day.