It also co-stars Taiwanese actress Gwei Lun-mei, who previously starred in Jay Chou's Secret.

The first-time director has been a volunteer for 14 years with Beijing Stars and Rain, a non-governmental educational organization for children with autism.

"[2] At first nobody was willing to take a risk on such a non-commercial script until film mogul Bill Kong, the man behind Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon stepped in.

It saw the inclusion of award winning cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Hero, 2046, In the Mood for Love), composer Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Departures, Hana-bi) and production designer Yee Chung-Man (Anna Magdalena, Curse of the Golden Flower).

Ocean Heaven is about a terminally ill father, Sam Wong/Wang Xincheng (Jet Li) as he works his job in an aquarium and struggles to look after his 21-year-old son with autism, Dafu/David (Wen Zhang).

Sam has single-handedly brought up his son since his wife died in a swimming accident 14 years ago and looks after him day and night.

Upon discovering Sam has less than five months to live, he multiplies his efforts to help Dafu learn basic tasks in order to care for himself, as well as searching for a home for him, before he passes away.

He almost drowns but is helped from water by Mr. Tang and while they chat, Sam reveals his wife's death might not have been an accident as she was a very good swimmer and they had recently found out Dafu is autistic.

Jet Li promoted the film by visiting the dolphins at Hong Kong's Ocean Park with a small group of adults who were intellectually challenged or had autism.

[5] Jet Li hoped the movie will encourage people pay more attention and dedicate their compassion to charity.

TIME magazine named Jet Li one of its Most Influential People this year for his work with his One Foundation.

China Movie Channel Media Awards 2010 Ocean Heaven has had particularly good reviews, getting very high ratings.