Foundation

When venues ask the foundation what it actually costs to host a Deaf Santa Claus appearance, we don’t give them a marketing number. We give them this.

The documentary about Charles Graves wasn’t planned as a feature film. It became one as the story revealed itself. Here’s the short version of how it got made.

Charles Graves is the most visible Deaf Santa Claus working today. He’s also a husband, a father, a community member, and someone who pursued this work for years before any cameras showed up.

The foundation didn’t start as a grand plan. It started with a man who looked like Santa, a documentary crew, and a question: what would it take to make this last?

The Santa industry has been around for a century. Sign language has been around longer. So why is it still so rare to find a Santa who can communicate with a Deaf child?

Charles Graves became the first widely-known Deaf Santa Claus, but Deaf Santas have appeared in Deaf schools and Deaf communities for far longer. Here’s some of the history that came before.