Film based upon the play by William Gibson.

Special features of this DVD: Dolby Digital surround sound, chapter search.

Originally released by Disney as a made-for-TV movie, 2000.

Director of photography, David Parker ; production designer, Lindsey Hermer-Bell ; editor, Maryann Brandon ; music, William Goldstein.

Alison Elliott, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Lucas Black, Kate Greenhouse, David Strathairn.

An adaptation of William Gibson's 1959 play about Annie Sullivan, the teacher that opens up the world for the blind and deaf Helen Keller. This compelling story of unconditional love and perseverance, the Kellers of Tuscumbia, Alabama, are a family in crisis. Their eight-year-old daughter Helen has been blind, deaf and mute since she was 18 months old, and her most consistent form of communication is to grab, tear and scratch violently at anything, or anyone, handy. Captain and Kate Keller feel such tremendous love and pity for Helen that they indulge her every whim. The result is that they have lost any semblance of peace in their home and son James bitterly resents how much attention is lavished on his half-sister. The Kellers make one last attempt to find a solution to their daunting problem. The Perkins School for the Blind in Boston offers to send one of their best students, Annie Sullivan, a recent graduate, to the Keller household to be Helen's live-in teacher in 1887. Annie, herself the product of an arduous childhood, also suffers from failing eyesight. Sullivan immediately, and sternly, tries to teach Helen manners and to use finger spelling -- sign language letters done against the palm of her hand -- as a true language. The process starts with Annie signing into Helen's hand the names of different objects. However, Helen cannot make the crucial connection between those letters and the actual objects and she expresses her frustration violently. Additionally, the Kellers, uncomfortable with seeing their "pitiful" child disciplined, frequently undermine Annie's authority. Sullivan, who is on her own journey of self-discovery, hatches a plan to save her job, control the family interference and create a world of structure for her bright, lively young student that is essential for her to learn and survive. Annie's determination leads Helen to a climactic breakthrough that allows her to discover the world through the eyes and ears of others. Growing into one of the most extraordinary women of any time, Helen served as an international leader for the disabled, with the assistance of the lifelong friendship and support of her teacher and mentor, Annie Sullivan, whose groundbreaking techniques for teaching deaf and blind people are still being used today.

Not rated.

DVD.

Audio tracks in English ; closed captioned for the hearing impaired.