PASADENA, Calif. -- The first thing to know about "Temple Grandin" (8 p.m. Saturday, HBO) is what it's not.

This is not a movie about a large, ancient worship space. The film's title is the name of its subject, Temple Grandin, a remarkable woman who revolutionized animal science.

Ms. Grandin was born autistic and, as played by actress Claire Danes, she's skittish and socially awkward. As a child, she's easily transfixed. As a teen, she's startled by minor alterations to the comfortable routine of her life (when a sign with her name on it falls off her door, she gets wildly upset). And yet she sees the world in a different way than most of us. As her high school science teacher/mentor Dr. Carlock (David Strathairn), notes, Temple "thinks in pictures."

The film, directed by Mick Jackson and written by Christopher Monger and William Merritt Johnson, depicts Temple's thought process by showing what she imagines ("animal husbandry" provokes an image of a cow as a spouse) and how she sees the world in schematics (engineering specs and architectural drawings).

As the title character, Ms. Danes makes a strong, believable impression in a role that could lead an actor to go overboard. Ms. Danes does not. She plays Temple as loud, sometimes flustered and occasionally hysterical but in a way that feels within the bounds of realism. Her wide eyes and ability to convey vulnerability, confusion and other emotions vividly -- something viewers first glimpsed in the TV show "My So-Called Life" -- make her an ideal choice for this role.

The film, by allowing viewers to see the world as Temple does, makes the character relatable rather than the "freak" kids tease at a '60s era boarding school. "Temple Grandin" jumps around in time, showing this cow whisperer at various stages in her young life, including her designs that rock the cattle industry.

By getting down on her hands and knees and looking at the world the way a cow sees it, she's able to devise systems that are more humane to animals and more efficient and money-saving for slaughterhouses. (The film does a nice job of showing how Ms. Grandin reconciles the life and death nature of the cattle business.)

The movie's writers and director do not allow "Temple Grandin" to lapse too much into a feel-good, Hallmark weeper. Sure, Ms. Grandin is successful but the film paints a fairly warts-and-all portrait. Ms. Grandin is not cured of autism but she does grow and evolve as she becomes more comfortable in her own skin while interacting with other humans.

"Temple Grandin" turns out to be the kind of biopic Hollywood rarely makes anymore: It's positive, revealing and surprising; an intelligent period piece without sex or violence that's virtually free of profanity.

Before making the movie, Ms. Danes spent time with Ms. Grandin, who is now a published author and professor of livestock handling and behavior at Colorado State University. But that time spent together may not have informed Ms. Danes' performance as much as dipping into Ms. Grandin's past.

"This movie ends at the end of the '70s, and the thing about autism is as you learn more and more and more, you keep getting less and less autistic-like," Ms. Grandin said last month at an HBO press conference. "In order for Claire to get some inkling of how to do this part, I found an old TV show tape from the '80s and an old VHS tape from the early '90s for her to watch."

Ms. Grandin described the spectrum of autism that ranges from mild to severe and the need to get autistic children active and involved.

"My mother made sure I had my first job when I was 13, working for a seamstress," she said. "When I was in college I had internships at a research lab and at a school for autistic kids."

Executive producer Emily Gerson Saines said she was drawn to Ms. Grandin's story because she is the mother of an autistic child.

"It brought hope," she said. "When you're trying to teach your autistic child how to speak and function within society, it's a really difficult job and you're not always getting something back. Temple's story brought hope to someone like me who at the time was feeling very hopeless, and I thought it would be fantastic to share this story with others who needed that hope."

"Temple Grandin" is a feel-good movie, but it doesn't adhere to conventions of the genre.

"It certainly isn't what we derogatorily call a disease-of-the-week movie, in which a character suffers from some kind of disability of adversity and through the force of their personality and the people around them they achieve a kind of normality by the end of the movie," said Mr. Jackson, the film's director. "This was a completely original story of someone who is exceptional to begin with who was trapped inside a cage of autism. ... When she was allowed to emerge through her own doings and the help of the people around her, she achieved not normality but exceptionality."

Friends and family of the late John Cater, the former KDKA-TV reporter/anchor who died last month, will gather to remember him Saturday at 7:11 p.m. at Calli's Restaurant at 7606 Forbes Ave., Regent Square.

Members of the public who wish to attend are asked to RSVP to MRWORKS7@hotmail.com.

NBC has renewed "Parks and Recreation" for a third season. ... MTV will return to "Jersey Shore" for a second season this summer. ... HBO has re-upped "Big Love" for a fifth season. ... Syfy will air the second season of the canceled NBC show "Merlin" later this year. ... CNN's Candy Crowley will become host of the network's "State of the Union" (9 a.m. Sunday) this weekend as John King moves to a 7 p.m. weeknight show that launches later this month. ... Verizon's FiOS TV service has expanded into Munhall.

In today's online TV Q&A, there are responses to questions about "Men of a Certain Age," "Ice Road Truckers" and recording TV shows through a Comcast digital adapter. Tuned In Journal includes posts on "Lost," "30 Rock" and the locally produced pilot "Munhall." Read online TV content at post-gazette.com/tv.

In this week's Tuned In podcast, deputy Magazine editor L.A. Johnson and I discuss the Grammy telecast, "Damages" and rerun season. Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.

TV columnist Rob Owen's Tuned In+ is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.