What happens when you fall in love with someone who doesn’t even understand the idea of love? The unconventional romantic comedy, Adam, tells the tale of a romance between a sophisticated young school teacher and a mysterious, but brilliant young man who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome. But the story becomes an exploration of two people finding a way to connect, even when they can’t possibly see the world in the same way.

The love between Adam (Hugh Dancy) and Beth (Rose Byrne) is unique due to Adam’s syndrome, which is a high-functioning type of Autism. But the film shows how Beth and Adam are ordinary people trying to make their relationship work.

“Really, the bottom line is that all relationships are difficult, and full of misunderstandings, because that’s just how we’re wired,” laughs writer and director Max Mayer.  “It’s through no fault of our own, really.  But I think a story like this gets at the idea that we also all have a kind of innocence at our core where we can still touch each other.”

The film was the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and marks the breakout feature film from Mayer. Mayer had previously directed some of television’s most popular shows, The West Wing and Alias.

The inspiration for Adam came unexpectedly when Mayer was listening to the radio and he heard about a man living with Asperger’s Syndrome that is labeled by an inability to read what other people are thinking and feeling.  Those with Asperger’s Syndrome can be highly intelligent, even off-the-charts brilliant, but are often socially cut-off because they perceive ordinary human behavior as strange and irrational.

Mayer couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like for a person who has Asperger’s Syndrome to carry on a romance with someone who doesn’t.  Thus the character of Adam was born.

“When I heard that man on the radio talking about Asperger’s Syndrome, I realized that not only was he describing his own very moving journey but also something about the general human condition,”  says Mayer. “We are all trapped in our heads – and can only make guesses about what another person’s experience is of the world, even those we love.  That’s what inspired me to begin Adam.  As I started writing, I realized that Adam’s relationship to Beth is an extreme version of a very common dilemma we all face in life:  the urge for an intimate connection to that which is necessarily strange – another person with their view of the world.”

To create Adam’s in-depth character, Mayer began by looking into what little is known today about Asperger’s Syndrome. It is thought that the Syndrome has probably existed for most of human history.  Indeed, it has been speculated that a number of famously “hard to understand” scientists, writers and artists may have had the Syndrome, including Albert Einstein, Amadeus Mozart, Isaac Newton and James Joyce.

“Aspies [people with Asperger’s Syndrome] don’t talk about it in terms of a handicap, they just call the rest of us ‘neurotypicals,’” points out Mayer.  “When I went to some Asperger’s meetings, I saw a wide spectrum of people but basically they all share the same trait of not being able to pick up on emotions from facial expressions or instincts.  That part of the world is more mysterious to them.  Yet, the Syndrome is also associated with a number of verifiable geniuses.”

In creating Beth, Mayer crafted someone who is Adam’s complete polar opposite – a highly emotional, intuitive, socially vivacious woman who is looking for a deeper kind of love than she has ever known. Initially attracted to Adam physically, she is taken back by his odd behavior and strange intensity, which draws her in even further, and she has to admit, no matter how different he is, she’s never felt like this with anyone.

“Beth meets Adam before there’s any label on him, so by the time she learns about his Asperger’s Syndrome, she’s already interested enough in him as a human being that it just becomes another piece of information,” says Mayer.

There is no denying there will be sparks between the two characters, but Adam and Beth push each other to go places they didn’t know they could. And in the end, isn’t that what love is all about?!