SINCE 1996
Since 1996, we have supported autistic people and their families. This year, we celebrate three decades of commitment — and look ahead to what remains to be built.
Our story in video
The story of a promise kept: never again leave families in silence.
Since its creation by Stéphane Benhamou, the association has built a unique model of inclusive citizenship, and now runs 12 specialised establishments.
The story of a promise kept: never again leave families in silence.
It all began in 1996, in a holiday centre.
The Top Gan association welcomed a child with autism for the first time. This encounter was a revelation: these children had nowhere to go, nowhere to flourish.
Stéphane Benhamou then founded Le Silence des Justes, with a strong and unwavering conviction:
It is through inclusion in the ordinary world that people with autism can truly flourish.
Are you a parent, professional, company or simply curious?
Here is how we can help.
My child has just been diagnosed, or I am looking for a structure suited to their daily care.
I work with people with autism and want to consolidate or develop my skills.
My organisation wants to commit to inclusion and disability.
I am curious, a journalist, a student or a researcher. I am interested in autism and inclusion.
People affected by ASD worldwide
Children born each year in France with ASD
Of people with autism are not in mainstream schools
"Every day, by accompanying children with autism in schools, by training institutions and companies to meet their needs, we are building the inclusive society of tomorrow."
Since 1996, by your side
Committed staff
Users supported
24/7 care
Mainstream school inclusion
Compared with 30% the previous yearReception capacity in 2025
To meet growing needs
In 2019, the film Hors Normes (released internationally as The Specials) made millions of viewers laugh and cry. But four years earlier, in 2015, there was a first gesture — quieter, more personal: a 26-minute documentary, made by the same filmmakers, about a childhood friend who was on the verge of giving up. That friend is Stéphane Benhamou, founder of Le Silence des Justes.
Read the article
At age 11, Greta Thunberg stopped eating and stopped speaking for several months. What followed that silence went on to change how millions of people talk about both climate change and autism. Here's how a diagnosis, received in real pain, became — in her own words — a "superpower."
Read the article
After the United States and its 18-year-old "cliff," we head to Canada — a country that resembles its neighbor in one striking way: massive variation from one province to the next, almost as if it were 13 small countries rather than one. The difference? Universal healthcare, which changes part of the equation.
Read the article
In the United States, one word keeps coming up in conversations with families and researchers working on autism: the "cliff." It's not just a figure of speech — it's what actually happens to tens of thousands of autistic young people every year, right at the moment they leave high school. Here's how a country that produces the world's reference statistics on autism still manages to leave its own young adults without a safety net.
Read the article
Kristian Schott learned to speak through opera. He learned to read at 15. And he only discovered he was autistic at age 40, after an entire life already built around the violin. His story doesn't follow any familiar arc about autism — because his began without that word, and only met it much later.
Read the article
In 1988, a film did something no documentary had managed before: it put autism at the center of a global conversation. Rain Man was a massive critical and commercial success, revealed the existence of a real man as fascinating as he was unknown, and lastingly shaped — for better and for worse — how millions of viewers have perceived autism ever since. A look back, nearly forty years later.
Read the article
In 2019, the film Hors Normes (released internationally as The Specials) made millions of viewers laugh and cry. But four years earlier, in 2015, there was a first gesture — quieter, more personal: a 26-minute documentary, made by the same filmmakers, about a childhood friend who was on the verge of giving up. That friend is Stéphane Benhamou, founder of Le Silence des Justes.
Read the article
At age 11, Greta Thunberg stopped eating and stopped speaking for several months. What followed that silence went on to change how millions of people talk about both climate change and autism. Here's how a diagnosis, received in real pain, became — in her own words — a "superpower."
Read the article
After the United States and its 18-year-old "cliff," we head to Canada — a country that resembles its neighbor in one striking way: massive variation from one province to the next, almost as if it were 13 small countries rather than one. The difference? Universal healthcare, which changes part of the equation.
Read the article
In the United States, one word keeps coming up in conversations with families and researchers working on autism: the "cliff." It's not just a figure of speech — it's what actually happens to tens of thousands of autistic young people every year, right at the moment they leave high school. Here's how a country that produces the world's reference statistics on autism still manages to leave its own young adults without a safety net.
Read the article
Kristian Schott learned to speak through opera. He learned to read at 15. And he only discovered he was autistic at age 40, after an entire life already built around the violin. His story doesn't follow any familiar arc about autism — because his began without that word, and only met it much later.
Read the article
In 1988, a film did something no documentary had managed before: it put autism at the center of a global conversation. Rain Man was a massive critical and commercial success, revealed the existence of a real man as fascinating as he was unknown, and lastingly shaped — for better and for worse — how millions of viewers have perceived autism ever since. A look back, nearly forty years later.
Read the articleLe Silence des Justes develops inclusive companies to offer people with autism a stepping stone into the professional world.
In recent years, issues related to autism spectrum disorders have gained growing visibility among the general public and the media. As a result, demand for diagnosis, care and inclusion has never been higher. To meet this demand, Le Silence des Justes regularly establishes partnerships with companies and foundations, which allows it to continue running its inclusion projects.
