What happens when the safety net disappears? In the world of intellectual and developmental disabilities, they call it “the cliff” – that moment at age 22 when school funding abruptly ends and millions of young adults face an uncertain future. For Bar Swain and his parents, Bob and Ginny, this looming reality sparked a journey that would transform not just their lives, but potentially countless others.

Raising Bar follows Bar’s path through the Massachusetts school system, where initial struggles give way to a life-changing discovery: the Camphill School in Pennsylvania where  Bar thrives in ways his family never imagined possible.

But the cliff still awaits. With 86% of young adults with intellectual disabilities retreating into isolation at home after aging out of school services, Bar’s parents refuse to accept this as their son’s fate. The film chronicles their bold response – the creation of High Spirit Community Farm, an innovative living space designed to provide what existing group homes often lack: stability, purpose, and genuine community.

Through intimate family moments and wider societal context, Raising Bar doesn’t just illuminate a hidden crisis affecting millions of American families – it offers a vision of what’s possible when we refuse to accept the status quo and instead build the world we wish to see.

A Q&A follows the film with the filmmaker Billy Parker and Bar’s parents Bob and Ginny Swain.

See the trailer at the Rising Bar web site – https://www.raisingbarthemovie.com/