Bullied teen with autism gets his dream day, thanks to the kindness of strangers
It started as a story about what's wrong with the world. What's broken.
A gentle 13-year-old boy with autism, named Carson Thomson, left with a broken wrist and an arm in a sling after he says bullies followed him off the school bus and pushed him to the ground – all because a piece of bubble gum popped on his face.
"If there's a bee in the pool, he's the kid who'll go and scoop it out," his mother, Abbie Hershey, told CBS News. "If there's a spider, he goes and gets a cup and a paper plate and lets it out. He wouldn't hurt a fly."
And yet, the world hurt him.
But rather than focus on what was broken, CBS News' David Begnaud called his mom and asked her what might help him heal. And she told him that Carson loves playing video games. In fact, his dream is to one day design games himself. So, meeting a video game designer would absolutely make his day.
Later that night, Begnaud put out a tweet asking if there were any video game designers in the Houston, Texas, area that would be willing to help.
That's when Phillip Morales of Six Foot Studios raised his hand. Not only was he a video game designer, he's a father of a child with autism.
Within 48 hours, Six Foot Studios opened their doors to Carson and welcomed him as one of their own. They showed him sketches, storyboards and models. Carson saw firsthand how video games are made and he even got to play around with some of the software.
"I mean, this is surreal," his mom whispered to Begnaud as her son interacted with the designers. "It's so cool. I can see all the cogs are going in his mind. He's thinking."
The act of kindness left Thompson inspired for his future.
Back in his bedroom, after what he described as "one of the days of all time," Carson told Begnaud that he was feeling "pretty inspired."
"I think that I am going to make the best game ever created," he said.
