‘Carl the Collector’ Celebrates Friendship & Fun Across the Spectrum on PBS Kids

This article was written for the December '24 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 345).

Over the past few years, we have seen several autistic characters take center stage on both live-action and animated series created for the small screen. Shows such as Love on the Spectrum, Pablo, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street have spotlighted popular neurodivergent characters with great success. This month, PBS Kids adds a wonderful new animated show titled Carl the Collector to this impressive list.

Created by New York Times bestselling illustrator and author Zachariah OHora (My Cousin Momo), the 2D-animated show breaks new ground as it features several central characters on the autism spectrum. The series follows the adventures of Carl, a warmhearted and detail-oriented autistic raccoon who enjoys collecting things and loves his friends and family in Fuzzytown. Among Carl’s close friends are Sheldon, an empathetic beaver; Lotta, a quiet and self-assured fox, who is also autistic; and Forrest, a hyperactive and impulsive squirrel with a tree nut allergy. The show’s production team includes neurodiverse writers, production staff, animators, advisers and voice talent.

The Philadelphia-based OHora says he loves raccoons, so it was a no-brainer to make the main character one of his favorite critters. “I hadn’t written any Carl the Collector books, but I had created this raccoon character that I didn’t have a real story for,” he recalls. “That happens a lot with characters I come up with. They just sit around my studio for years before they really have a story that makes sense for them.”

Embracing Differences

The author-illustrator says that he is the father of two sons who were just starting school when he began working on his show. “We’re lucky enough that they go to an inclusion school, which was a totally new concept to me at the time, but it’s based on the idea that every kid in the district has the same democratic rights to a complete educational experience,” says OHora. “As a result, you have everyone sharing the same classroom, whatever their needs may be. I noticed that my kids treated everyone alike and thought everyone was their friend. That was a light-bulb moment for me because it was so different from how I grew up, and it was so much healthier, because kids get more exposure to the complete spectrum of humanity from a young age. So, it’s great both for neurodivergent kids and for neurotypical ones who will learn that other people might think, speak or act differently than them. Everyone will benefit when we recognize and embrace our differences.”

‘I have a certain aesthetic which I sometimes refer to as “janky,” and I was blown away at the early designs they’d show me. They looked like something I would [do], but even better!’

— Author/show creator Zachariah OHora

OHora tells Animation Magazine that it was over nine years ago when PBS Kids reached out to him as it was looking for creators outside its usual pool of talent. Later, Toronto-based Yowza! Animation Studio (Nature Cat, Green Eggs and Ham) was brought on to work on the pilot and eventually produce the animation for the show.

“There are so many things I love about this show,” says director Lisa Whittick. “From an artistic point of view, I love the look and feel of it, as well as the messaging. When you see the finished episodes, they’re both calming and visually beautiful, and that’s a great testament to Zach’s style and vision. On a personal level, I’m a parent of an autistic son who is 19 now. I think about the fact that if we had had this show when he was growing up, we would have had a much easier time as a family. I think the show is going to mean so much to so many people.”

Reflections on a Raccoon

The popular author says that it took a while to get the concept completely right and fleshed out. “I was doing books at the same time, which was sort of my real job. There were times that I felt I needed to put this project aside because there was no guarantee that the show was going to happen,” OHora says. “On the upside, what’s made this show really great is that PBS really cares about authentic representation, so they are always going the extra mile to do the right testing and ask the right questions. They made sure we hired the right autism, social and emotional, and curriculum experts. It was all about doing the right thing and honoring the people that we’re representing in the show.”

For Whittick and the rest of the show’s team, it was very important to get the visual details absolutely right. “There are certain characteristics such as stimming [i.e., arm flapping, rocking, jumping, etc.], which are little movements that sometimes autistic people use to help themselves regulate their emotions,” says the director. “That was something that we wanted to explore a bit before we got into full production at the studio. So, we created a lot of animation cycles and sent everything to PBS and the advisers to get their feedback. That was a really great learning time for us to try and nail all the details and get everything absolutely right.”

‘I know that families are going to walk away from the show just feeling seen and finally feeling represented. They will have a springboard to open up conversations about what autistic people are going through.’

— Yowza! director Lisa Whittick

A team of about 70 professionals work on the show at Yowza! The 2D animation is created with Toon Boom’s Harmony and Storyboard Pro software. Another 30 people work on the show at Spiffy Pictures in Chicago. PBS is quite confident about the show, as it has greenlit 40 episodes (2 x 11 minutes), half of which have been completed to date.

OHora says that he loved seeing his art come alive through animation. “I didn’t know much about TV animation before we started this project, but I knew that I wanted the show to look like my art and my books,” he says. “I have a certain aesthetic which I sometimes refer to as ‘janky,’ and I was blown away at the early designs they’d show me. They looked like something I would [do], but even better!”

A Springboard for Understanding

Both OHora and Whittick have been quite pleased with the test audience reactions to their show. “My biggest fear as a member of the autism community with my son was that somehow we’d get it wrong and not being able to show the experience in an authentic way,” says Whittick. “Sometimes when you’re close to a project, it’s hard to get that perspective, but the fact that we took all these measures and have feedback from experts and our autistic crew members and writers helped in the results being really special.”

OHora says he hopes all kids — neurodivergent and neurotypical — will see themselves, family members and friends in the series. “Hopefully, they’ll all understand each other a little more at the end of each episode and have fun doing it,” he says.

“I know that families are going to walk away from Carl the Collector just feeling seen and finally feeling represented,” adds Whittick. “They will have a springboard to open up conversations about what autistic people are going through, how to be friends with an autistic person and recognize when someone’s in distress. I feel that we’re showing all those lessons, but in a very fun, entertaining and kind of weird way, and I think viewers will walk away feeling really good overall!”

Carl the Collector is produced by Fuzzytown Productions and Spiffy Pictures and animated by Yowza! Animation. The show premieres on PBS Kids on November 14.