EDITOR'S NOTE: The Willowbrook State School was officially closed in 1987, after abuses at the school were revealed in the 1970s by Advance reporter Jane Kurtin and others, including Geraldo Rivera .

Bernard Carabello, who spent years as a child at the Willowbrook State School, prior to the premiere of a documentary on the school on Thursday, March 24, 2023 at the Hart Theater in Albany, NY.

Willowbrook State School only took in 20 patients from other institutions after opening. But by 1955, it was at full capacity with 4,000 patients.