The Miracle Worker is a 1979 biographical television film based on the 1959 play of the same title by William Gibson, which originated as a 1957 broadcast of the television anthology series Playhouse 90. Gibsons original source material was The Story of My Life, the 1902 autobiography of Helen Keller. The play was adapted for the screen before, in 1962.
Young Helen Keller Melissa Gilbert, blind, deaf, and mute since infancy, is in danger of being sent to an institution. Her inability to communicate has left her frustrated and violent. In desperation, her parents seek help from the Perkins Institute, which sends them a halfblind Yankee schoolgirl named Annie Sullivan Patty Duke to tutor their daughter. Through persistence and love, and sheer stubbornness, Annie breaks through Helens walls of silence and darkness and teaches her to communicate.
Source: Wikipedia