(Male speaking) When was Sir Walter Raleigh executed?
(Kim Peek) October 29, 1618. (grunting)
(Female speaking) And what day of the week was that?
(Peek) It was a Thursday.
(applause)
(Female voice) December 9, 1995.
(Peek) Ah, it was a Saturday and this year it's a Friday.
(Woman) Oh, my God! I love him!
(Peek) I have so many things in me that you can't even guess them all.
'eeyo yea'
(Narrator) Kim Peek has one of the weirdest brains in the world.
He's become a living Google.
(Man) What Kim represents is the dark side of the moon.
He is in love with knowledge for the sake of it. (Kim- 1 T!)
(Narrator) He's a confounding mixture of disability and
brilliance that neuro-scientists are determined to understand.
It's a very exciting opportunity for us to find out what makes the human brain unique.
(laughter)
(Fran) He just amazes me.
The life is nothing I ever expected.
I think I'd do anything for him.
(strings music)
(piano music and birds chirping)
(Narrator) Kim Peek is the world's most famous savant.
The inspiration for the Oscar winning film, "Rain Man."
Kim was diagnosed "mentally retarded" at birth,
but with his father's- Fran's- unflagging support,
he's developed a memory that is without equal.
"Rain Man" screenwriter, Barry Morrow, met Kim in 1984.
I was absolutely flabbergasted that such a human being existed,
and that I have never heard of a savant.
I could not get this man- this character- out of my mind.
My scheme was to create some kind of a movie in which Kim Peek would become a character.
(music)
(Narrator) Barry introduced Kim to Dustin Hoffman when Hoffman was researching the role.
Sally Dibbs, Dibbs Sally. 461-0-00192
How did you know my phone number?
How'd you know that?
'cuz I read the telephone book last night. Dibbs, Sally. 461-0192.
I mean I don't have any scientific proof for this, that if you make a movie about somebody,
they're going to come out of their shell.
But I think "Rain Man" did more than win awards.
I think it left the door open on the possibility that nobody is ever written off,
that change is always possible.
(Narrator) "Rain Man" changed Kim's life forever.
(Kim) Until I started being Rain Man, I couldn't l-look in a person's eyes.
(Narrator) In 1951, doctors wanted to place Kim in a mental hospital called American Fork.
"We took him to a neurologist at 9 months of age to be examined and
the neurologist was late for a golf game and only had five minutes to talk to us.
"Sorry I missed your golf game. 'Put him in American Fork!' "
He said, 'I've read your medi- medical history so far.
He's severely mentally retarded.
He will never be able to learn, never be able to walk.
He should be put in the institution and you forget about him.
(Narrator) For Fran and his wife, there was no question; they would raise Kim themselves at home.
His condition seemed to make him an introverted child.
We were just going to do everything we could to give him as much love as possible
and help him just as much as we could.
(Narrator) When Fran and Kim's mother parted in 1975, Fran became Kim's sole caregiver.
Two months shy of his 18th birthday, Fran still looks after Kim.
He helps me a lot because I still have bad coordination
and-because of the brain damage that I had when I was little.
(Kim) I wasn't supposed to make it past about 14, and here I am at 54, a celebrity.
(Fran) It wasn't til he was 37 years old and Dustin Hoffman met him
that Kim could look into someone's face.
Dustin Hoffman said to me, 'You have to promise one thing about this guy- share him with the world'
And pretty soon, it got so that nobody was a stranger to him.
They were people.
And it was- it was so neat.
(Kim) You have been made known like a man of greatness and love.
I love the way he's flowered.
"Kim Peek"
And it belies the myth that people don't change, especially people with developmental disabilities.
(Narrator) 18 years ago, Barry Morrow gave his Oscar to Kim.
And Fran took Dustin Hoffman's advice to share Kim with the world.
The once introverted Kim, has now appeared in front of more than 2 million people,
all eager to test his genius with obscure questions.
(applause)
(Man) Who was the game winning pitcher of game 3 in the 1926 World Series?
(Kim) The Cardinals won and with Grover Cleveland Alexander.
(cheering)
(Child) How much home runs did, uh, Babe Ruth hit?
7 hundred and 14.
(laughter/applause) Thank you.
(Child 2) Who were the four people on the George Washington Cabinet?
Jefferson, Knox, Hamilton and Randolph.
(Cheering)
(Narrator) Along with these displays of extraordinary ability,
the Peeks preach a message about disability.
(Fran) They don't have to be handicapped to be different.
Everybody is different.
(Laughter) Thank you-
(Narrator) Kim's Gifts come at a price.
Nope, we have to-- Whuuuuuh
(Kim) No on this side!
(Fran) Kim, they're trying to keep you on the camera and you've got to be over here to be on camera.
(Kim) I have to be on camera on this side!
(Fran) No- right here, right here. Okay, will you calm down now?
Yes, I tell ya, either side. Okay,
(Narrator) Like all savants, Kim is an acutely different man.
(Kim grunting)
Sometimes understanding Kim can be a challenge.
(Kim) I do-I-I-I can do it. That's what I'm doing! Now you're starting, now you know it!
(frustrated groans)
(Narrator) Fran's patience is phenomenal.
(Kim) Now you get it. (Fran) Well, yeah.
(Fran) Well, occasionally I get impatient with him, if he gets stuck on something that,
I have a hard time breaking him off of and he's getting very, very, uh, tense about it.
Or he's just yelling and he has those pop-ups every once in a while.
(Kim) They'll have to legalize immigration.
(Fran) They already have it legalized.
It never takes more than 10 or 15 minutes to get him changed to another subject and then he calms down.
(Kim) But some people believe that Mexico might attack us. They can't!
(Narrator) Looking after Kim is more than a full time job.
(Fran) Only about 30 hours a day.
Hm, no. 30 hours a day and 10 days a week-
That's what most parents who have children with disabilities feel like.
That's kind of like what they're scheduled for.
(Narrator) Kim knows how essential his dad is to him.
My dad and I share the same shadow.
(Narrator) This year is especially important for to Kim and Fran.
(Kim) Things will really heat up this winter with my dad approaching 80.
Only one other member of my dad's immediate family has ever reached that mark-
and it's my grandma- whew.
Which makes this year so important to us.
Each...
(music)
(Narrator) So, this year, the Peeks have set themselves a mission to find out everything they can about Kim's brain.
(Kim- Dah dah dahhh) They're going on a road trip down the coast of California
to meet some of the world's foremost neuroscientists and find some answers while they're still together.
(Man) You remember all kinds of information which is very difficult for most of us to hold in our minds.
How do you do that?
(Kim) Th-They're still unable to find out w-what all this is about, aren't they dad?
(Fran) Get all that sticky stuff out of there-
(Kim) A-All, he did it!
(Fran) He did it and he did a good job. (Kim laughs)
(Narrator) 54 year-old savant Kim Peek spends all his time in his father's- Fran's- company.
Kim is celebrated for his remarkable memory, but he needs his father's help living everyday life.
(Kim) It's great to see those, folks. All of them.
(Narrator) The Peeks have lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, all of Kim's life.
The public library here is Kim's favorite place in the world.
Kim devours books on anything and everything.
As many as 8 in a day.
(Kim- laughing, humming)
(Fran) He reads a page that you and I would read in three minutes, it takes about 8-10 seconds.
He reads left pages left eyed, right pages right eye and remembers about 98% of it.
(Classical music)
He has 15 (inaudible)
When I explain him to people, I try to say, 'about the only thing he can't do-
he can't reason out mathematical problems.
(Classical music)