This is a documentary about C.A.R.E., a Devon organization which provides a home with work and community opportunities for the mentally disabled, made by members of the Royal College of Art School of Film and Television. Title: Learning to Care Title: C.A.R.E. was started four years ago, to train and look after the mentally handicapped. In the main farm-house they are socialized, and trained for work. After a year they move into cottages where they settle down as family units. Since the aim...

This is a documentary about C.A.R.E., a Devon organization which provides a home with work and community opportunities for the mentally disabled, made by members of the Royal College of Art School of Film and Television. Title: Learning to Care Title: C.A.R.E. was started four years ago, to train and look after the mentally handicapped. In the main farm-house they are socialized, and trained for work. After a year they move into cottages where they settle down as family units. Since the aim is security for life, the appalling pressures parents normally face are relieved. The film depicts the lives of the residents at C.A.R.E. After being woken and washed by the members of the staff, the men work at mixing cement and building structures, farming, milking cows, and planting seedlings in the garden. The Founder and director, Peter Forbes, explains that they are actually part of the village building project, and that being thus is important.  He explains that they are part of, and accepted by, the local community, and states that “the greatest handicap for the mentally handicapped is the embraassment of what they achieve themselves by their own idiosyncasies”, and that they “all admire each other”.  The senior residents help to guide the newer ones. The women sew and knit. One resident plays a small xylophone in his bedroom, with a poster of the film Camelot with pictures of Richard Harris and "the Knight’s Prayer" on his wall.  Another plans to start his own business and become a tycoon. Together, as a family, the members of the community share meals, sing songs like 'Bring Back my Bonnie,' dance to the Beach Boys' 'I Get Around' and enjoy an outdoor circus performance featuring clowns. An informative voiceover plays throughout the film and is supplemented by interviews with various members of staff, including Sandy Etheridge, the handicraft tutor, Jackie Johnson, a House Mother and Craig Lynn, a warden of one of the cottages. [Note: spelling of names might not be correct] Made by members of the Royal College of Art School of Film and Television for C.A.R.E. Research and Direction Michael Gould, Peter Leake, John Mills, Graham Moore, Chris Shelley,  Editor Richard Woolley Assistant Editor Peter Donnebauer Producer  M. Heckford