For an actor, stepping into somebody else’s shoes — even if those shoes are figurative and that somebody is fictional — is the very essence of the art.

For a person with autism, seeing the world from someone else’s perspective can be one of the very hardest things to achieve.

But that’s part of what participants take on in a theater program run by TERI (Training, Education & Research Institute), an agency that works with the disabled.

In a first-time collaboration with the theater department of Guajome Park Academy in Vista, TERI is presenting one of this year’s more unusual holiday shows. Titled “Making Seasons Bright,” the revue-style production will be performed by adults with autism. (Academy students are providing behind-the-scenes support.)

TERI, which hopes to develop its theater program into a model for use internationally, says the program has boosted its participants’ self-confidence and skills.

It’s an idea that gets at an important aspect of autism, a neurological condition that affects speech and behavior in widely varying ways.

Therapists and researchers like to talk about the concept of “theory of mind” — the capacity to perceive that other people have ideas and emotions and motivations different from one’s own. It’s thought that in autism, that ability can be elusive.

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