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