Plot Synopsis

Created by Zachariah OHora, CARL THE COLLECTOR is a half-hour animated series that follows the everyday adventures of Carl, a warm-hearted autistic racoon, who enjoys collecting things and loves his friends and family in Fuzzytown. Carl pays extraordinarily close attention to detail and comes up with unique ideas that others might not consider. These traits have helped him amass his extensive collections -- from autographs and bottle caps to fake mustaches, pet rocks, sweaters, and virtually everything in between -- which can come in handy for solving problems around the neighborhood with his friends. Carl's friends include Sheldon, an empathetic beaver with a knack for connecting people and soft spot for the underdog. As Carl's best friend, he is attuned to Carl's unique logic and ways of looking at the world, sometimes helping him navigate complex social nuances when necessary. Carl's friend Lotta, a quiet and self-assured fox, is also autistic. She experiences hypersensitivity to loud sounds, powerful smells, and certain food textures, and has exceptional talents in art and music. Other friends include Nico and Arugula, identical twin bunny sisters whose personalities couldn't be more different, making their quest to define their individual identities extra complicated. And Forrest, a hyperactive and impulsive squirrel with a tree nut allergy, who is always down for an impromptu adventure.

Each half-hour episode is comprised of two stories. In each story, Carl and his friends work and play together, and in the process, find out what makes each of them who they are. As a perfectionist, when Carl does something, he wants to do it well. He sometimes struggles with anxiety in new situations and has difficulty when things don't go according to plan, like in the episode "The Fall," when Nico trips and falls and Carl freezes up, unsure of how to help. In "The Fake Mustache Collection," Nico grows frustrated that no one can tell her and Arugula apart until Carl uses his great eye for detail to help address Nico's concern. Another episode, "Whole Lotta Lotta," finds Lotta determined to express the fullness of her personality after she is nicknamed "Headphone Girl" by another kid at school, because of the headphones she wears for her sensitivity to loud noises.

The series is the first PBS KIDS series to feature central characters on the autism spectrum alongside a production team of neurodiverse and neurotypical writers, advisers and voice actors.