>> thanks so much. that does it for us. thanks for watching. "this is life with lisa ling" starts right now. >> this is the story of a controversial experiment to create geniuses that began 30 years ago. >> robert graham, an eccentric millionaire who believed the brain power of the human race was in decline had a solution. selectively breeding for intelligence. >> press got wind of it. people went up in arms. this is tampering with god. >> hidden amongst us are over 200 children that carry a secret

buried deep in their dna. the genetic make up for academic excellence. >> we, as a species do need to make sure we are not slipping into on id rock si. >> did it work? >> are you a genius? >> tonight we meet and explore the legacy robert graham left behind. >> what is it like to try and create a better version of you? >> super weird.

so, nine years ago, i met this guy. he was 6'4" a doctor and as it turns out, a pretty good cook. i was instantly interested. i admittedly thought to myself, this guy could make a good baby daddy. paul and i got married. several years later, decided to start a family. but, the journey wasn't easy. after two miscarriages, we were finally successful. in 2013, we gave birth to our baby girl, jet. >> are you going to help daddy cook? all we cared about was having a healthy baby. of course, we hoped she'd be smart, too. for fun, we started to test her. where is the turtle? where is turtle? yeah. where is seahorse? where is seahorse.

yeah. did she inherit her fathers academic prowess? >> right. >> or will she have more of her mother's outgoing personality? good job. jet's genetic hand has ben dealt and only time will tell if she turns out to be our baby genius. what if you could shop for smarts? it may sound like stuff of science fiction. in the 1980s, one man didn't think so. when robert graham opened the so-called genius sperm bank 30 years ago, it caused a media frenzy. >> 30 miles north of san diego, a sperm bank made up of donations by nobel prize winning scientists. >> robert k. graham has been concerned about the declining genetic endowment of mankind. >> the better the human gene

pool, the better the individuals who come out of it. the poorer the human gene pool, the more useless and detrimental individuals will come out of it. i'm interested in improving the human gene pool. >> officially called the repository, the goal was simple, but innovative. he pre-screened men based on their pedigree. once approved, a donor sheet listing i.q. would be mailed to interested shoppers. over 200 prodigy were born from genius sperm. children he hoped would better the gene pool. the question is, did it work? so 30 years ago, what robert graham tried to do in manufacturing genius was hugely controversial. he was inundated with people who wanted to utilize his services like the couple that live in

this building in new york city. before finding the repository, they tried for years to conceive naturally, but with no success. at what point did you realize there was something wrong? >> she turned out to be exceptionally fertile and i was infer tile. >> adrian wanted the experience of birth, so adoption was out of the question. after hearing of the repository on tv, they decided to check it out. what did you actually read about the repository that struck you? >> really, the basic thing was research into the donor's past, their genetics and health history, number one. number two would be what they had accomplished. >> the donors? >> yes. >> they applied and their application was quickly accepted. i can't believe you still have this broture. it enables the wives to become

mothers and give their children a chance in life. these are the donor profiles? you still have these as well? each donor was given a color coded id to protect their identity. donor clear and fuschia were at the top of their list. athletic ability, northwest european, blue eyes, fair skin, blond hair. professor of a heart science at a major university. he has produced outstanding research. all of these donors sound pretty extraordinary. executive aerospace scientist. graduate involved in genetic research. i mean, i would have a hard time with these. >> on paper, they are all amazing. >> david, i have to ask you, as you are thumbing through the profiles and seeing these extraordinary acomp

militiaments, did you feel inferiority or insecurities? >> well, there was some insecurity but not about them. their part is done. they have provided the sperm. the part in my view is raising them and being a father. that is going to be up to me. >> the decision had been made and an order placed. donor clear, professor at a major university, outstanding intellect and exceptional athletic ability. this canister shows up in the mail? >> yes. it shows up fedex. >> then, like a sci-fi movie, take the lid off the tank and all this comes out. it was a learning experience for me, to say the least. >> the insemination was a success on the first try. nine months later, they welcomed their first child loandra into

the world. >> right away, she had a voice. oh, my goodness. >> academically accomplished, she found a successful career singing opera. she wasn't the only child to succeed. ecstatic about her birth, they went back to the repository in hopes of using more of donor clear's sperm. they hit a snag. >> how many children could each of the donors have? >> they could sire ten children. we were so happy with clear, having our daughter leandra, clear was no longer available. he sired ten children. we had to find another one. >> after another search, donor fuschia stuck out. olympic gold medalist. i.q. not tested, but superior. cortney was born in 1988, the second child from the repository. >> did you see olympic qualities

in her? >> yes, yes, i do. she's very strong and she has all the qualities of a great artist. >> hi, welcome to whacky weather. over here, up north, it's cloudy in the mid-70s and rain. >> my family is very, very artsy. i think the environment plays a large part in who we become. you know, how that child is nurtured throughout their life and what experiences they have, i think that shapes them just as much as their genes for sure. >> what were you like as a kid? >> as a kid, i remember being happy all the time. i had this great friendship and relationship with my sibling. i felt free, free to do whatever i wanted. free to take ballet lessons, piano lessons, art classes. i was really supported. >> how did you do in school? >> i always loved school.

i did really well for the most part. i got straight as. >> would you say academics came naturally to you? >> yes, for sure. >> have you ever felt pressure to live up to the genius moniker? >> from the outside, i have never felt pressure. i have a lot of goals and a lot of things i'm working toward in my life. it's who i am. >> the rams would have one more child through the repository. they went back to donor fuschia and courtney was given a biological brother, logan. while his birth was a blessing to the family, somewhere along the way, they noticed a change in him. >> there was definitely a stop in development. he seemed to go more inside of himself. >> logan would later be diagnosed with pdd, pervasive developal disorder, a form of

autism. >> very good. >> you know, there's only so much you can control, even with genetics at this point in history. i mean, i didn't know that my third child would have -- be under autistic spectrum. i didn't have control over that. you don't know what is going to happen. when you try to increase the chances of something going one way, still, it's completely -- >> what you are doing is increasing the chances, that's it. there are so many impossible number of variations and mutations involved in creating a human being. >> whether you have your baby naturally or through artificial insemination or ivf, it's impossible to know what characteristics your child is going to have. you can't know. all you can do is provide love.

>> when robert graham died in 1997, the genius sperm bank followed closely behind. with it, decades of recordkeeping and files were relocated. after digging, we found a young man in the midwest who decided to talk on camera for the first time, sharing the details of a life that's had many twists and turns.

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the future of safety. give the gift of volvo this season and we'll give you your first month's payment on us. ♪ >> there were over 200 kids born from the repository over an 18-year period. some of them are still quite young and may not even know they were born using sperm from the repository. kids are spread out all over the united states, but there's a young man here in rural

illinois, who has agreed to talk to us. >> i was very lucky because the two elements that go into a person -- nature and nurture -- i had the best of both worlds really. >> genius can be found in many places, but on top of a roof is not where i expected to find one of the progeny. hey, tom. >> hey, lisa. >> how you doing? >> not bad. yourself? >> good. it's toasty out here. how long have you been roofing? >> this is my second year. >> how do you like it? >> it's actually really fun. you get to work outside all the time. i get to work with all my friends. >> do the guys you work with know you're progeny from the genius sperm bank? >> yeah, some of them do. some of them i'm okay sharing my background with. >> there might be people who are surprised to see someone from the genius sperm bank out here doing manual labor. what do you think? >> it's been a winding road that's brought me to here. >> tom's journey began at birth.

his parents never told him about his repository past, raising him as if he were just like any other child. but on the inside, written in his dna, was the genetic code for academic excellence. >> did you do well in school? >> oh, yeah, very well in school. when i got to high school, i actually started taking college courses as a freshman. i have a near identic memory, when i read something or hear it, it recalls faster than most people. >> been that way since you were a kid? >> yes. it's horribly painful when the class moves at the speed of the slowest kid in the class. and you're on the other end of the spectrum and constantly bored. >> were you a popular kid? >> no, those two don't go hand in hand. >> kind of a nerd? >> definitely a nerd, the outcast. >> are these all your books? >> oh, yes. that's not all of them, though. it's a good amount of them. this is actually probably the most appropriate.

>> brave new world? >> yes. had this for forever. borrowed it from the library. [ laughter ] >> it's actually all about eugenics and the future and the impacts that eugenics can have. this is all designer babies, built to be alphas, betas, deltas, and have a social class that's predetermined. >> do you think tom's a genius? >> i think he's very, very intelligent, yes. >> 30 years ago, tom's mother mary wanted to start a family. but after years of trying she wasn't getting pregnant. >> we went through all the fertility testing and everything was fine with me. so then we went for testing for him, and we found out that he had a problem. >> unable to have a biological child through her husband, the only option was to use a sperm bank, and their doctor recommended the repository. >> so how important was the intelligence factor in your decision to go with the repository?

>> to me, that was huge. because i've always felt that intelligence equals success in life, usually. if you're like in a situation where i was, where my husband and i could not have our own child, and you have to pick characteristics, it's only the smart thing to do, to try to stack the deck in your child's favor, and to try to get the best that you can get for your child. >> mary ended up picking donor coral, an iq of 160 at age 9, and a professional man of high standing. nine months later, tom was born. given the source, expectations were high. >> did your mother ride you a lot as a kid? >> yes. yes. my mom pushed me. you have more potential than this. you can do better. keep working, keep doing your homework. >> so she had certain expectations of you? >> yes. >> i just always felt he would be smart.

it was something i just expected. >> because of -- >> yes, i'm sure that influenced me. >> while his mother was always driving tom forward, his father was noticeably absent from the home, growing more distant from him as time passed. what tom suspected but didn't know was that his dad wasn't his biological father and the secret was close to coming out. >> i could tell that there was definitely a rift between me and my dad growing up. >> do you feel like you have much in common with your dad? >> no. we're two completely different people. >> i weighed, is this going to be harder for him if i tell him, or harder for him if i don't tell him? >> i was 15 years old. i could tell there was secrets and things she was keeping from me. i really pushed her to find out what it was. >> what did your mother actually say when she finally relented and told you?

>> that i didn't have to worry about my dad's genes, because i wasn't related to him anyway. you've hit the genetic lottery, you have about the best genes you could possibly get, i made sure of that, i went through the repository for germinal choice. >> tom's future now seemed bright, filled with limitless potential. but life was about to throw him and his high school girlfriend a huge curveball. >> i got my wife pregnant at 16. i've had a son since i was 17 after i got out of high school, i knew she was pregnant. four days later i had a full-time job, working 40 hours a week and contributing and being there for him. i have two children i'm financially responsible for. i'm committed to providing the best environment that i can for them. ♪

>> you know, it's over right now already, right? >> might be. >> no, it is. >> how is it already over? >> oh, no. you know better. >> faced with raising a family at such a young age, college would have to wait. the manual labor wasn't tom's first choice to make a living. he had something a little more unconventional in mind. >> the main reason i ended up going into roofing is because i have a felony on my background for production of cannibis. >> and how did you get into that? >> i actually was interested in the biology and the science behind it -- >> of course you were. [ laughter ] >> in the selectively breeding for traits, i picked the best ten plants, and those would be my mothers that i would seed and create my next generation. >> so you were a product of selective breeding. >> yes. >> you happen to take a keen

interest in selective breeding. >> yes. >> kind of ironic. >> i have a strong interest in it. attention grows where interests goes. i have heirloom strains that i've created for my children to pass along to them someday. it's going to be legal in the united states someday. and i've got a felony for being ahead of my time a little bit. >> a man ahead of his time. it begs the question, who was tom's biological father? did he too think outside the box, a step ahead of the rest? after an exhaustive search, tom had a real name and phone number. >> so you're sitting by the phone and what are you thinking? >> i'm just -- i'm wondering what's going to be on the other end. who's going to call me? is he going to be a lawyer or a doctor? what kind of person am i going to be meeting? >> imagine finding out that the

person you always thought was your father isn't, and that you had genius genes from someone else. it puts pressure on him to live up to expectations of what he might become. but it really made me wonder, what kind of man would donate to this controversial program 30 years ago? (receptionist) gunderman group. gunderman group is growing. getting in a groove. growth is gratifying. goal is to grow. gotta get greater growth. i just talked to ups. they got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. like smart pick ups. they'll only show up when you print a label and it's automatic. we save time and money. time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics.

tom is one of the over 200 progeny born from the genius sperm bank, an experiment to populate the world's gene pool with smart genes.

after years of searching for his biological father, they finally connected on the phone. the mystery of half his family tree was about to be solved. >> the phone call comes. i start talking with him. and he's a normal person. he's just a regular person like me. he's made mistakes. he's had triumphs, tribulations. >> after the call, they agree to meet in person several months later. tom came face to face with a father he only knew as donor coral. an m.i.t. graduate and a man of high standing. >> is that your biological dad? >> that's my biological dad and my two half sisters. >> whoa. you look like him. >> you can really see it. >> you really look like him. >> what was that like, this man that you'd never known, that you just found out about, and then

seeing yourself so profoundly in him? >> it was just really, really eerie. it was like looking into a mirror and seeing myself 20 years from now. >> who was donor coral? why was he selected for the repository for germinal choice. i was about to find out. >> hi, ben. >> hey, good morning. >> donor coral, real name benjamin, agreed to speak with us on the phone. >> it's certainly good to give children as good a start as possible and intelligence is one of the things that helps people in life. >> did your educational pedigree, was that one of the reasons why you were somewhat sought after as a donor? >> quite possible. i grew up on the east coast. i have a bachelor's degree in mathematics. and i worked for a year on the spaceship program, doing computer work, and then i went to law school. so i thought it seemed like a good idea. >> and how many times did you donate for the repository?

>> maybe 25 or 30. >> 25 or 30? >> perhaps. >> do you know how many of those donations resulted in a child? >> i've only heard of one or two children being born from them, maybe three, from the repository using my sperm so -- >> do you remember any of the questions that robert graham asked you or what the application process was like? >> julianna was involved with that. the lady working at the sperm bank, juliana. >> there are few people who worked directly with robert graham. juliana was one of them. from 1980 to 1985, she helped him track down the best and brightest sperm in the states. >> what were the prerequisites for becoming a donor for the repository? >> number one, women wanted good health.

number two, they wanted good looks. number three, they wanted brilliance. >> how would you go about recruiting them? what was your pitch? >> can you imagine doing that? it wasn't easy to get a donor. they kind of go, why are you in my office? and i said, well, you have some genetic material, and there's some people out there that can use that. they would like to have a child. >> what kinds of places would you visit in your recruiting efforts? >> cal tech. >> julianna traveled up and down the west coast, dropping in on elite college campuses to recruit dean's list students. >> i'd take the tanks of liquid nitrogen in dr. graham's cadillac and drive up to cal tech and talk to the students.

and they say, you want to meet the genius of the whole school? that's his office. so i just go knock on his office door and tell him the whole story. and he said, okay. >> slid in the bathroom and provided a sample? >> yeah. i thought, whoa, that is so cool. >> why do you think the repository became known as the nobel sperm bank? >> oh, that was the press. it was called the repository for germinal choice. the press got wind of it and boy oh boy, they went to town with it. >> once one starts down this path, which is based on false assumptions in life, you not only start thinking in terms of science fiction about improving the breed, you also start thinking about controlling the breeding of people you don't like. i think we've all seen where that leads, in nazi germany not that long ago. >> the idea of selective breeding was enough to cause headlines, but the biggest pr blow-out would come from one of

their controversial donors. >> i think that graham is dealing with questions here which are of vast importance to the future of mankind, and which are now being effectively buried. people are unwilling to look at. >> william shockley, inventor of the transistor and sperm donor to the program, believed in the program. but he was well known for his racist views, espousing his belief that whites were genetically superior to blacks. shockley was dropped as a donor. and robert graham maintained to the press that his sperm bank was just about the preservation of intelligent genes. >> we're not thinking in terms of a super race. we're thinking in terms of a few more creative, intelligent, useful individuals who would otherwise never have been born. >> nobody understood it. they understand it now. it was severe. gosh, i would say, dr. graham, how can you take this?

and he said, it's fine, because publicity is good for us. and it was. because that phone never stopped ringing. we never had enough sperm. >> as far as sperm banks went, why was the repository so unique? >> because we screened the donor. because we cared about the genetic material that the recipient would receive. we cared about the child, you know. >> look, what robert graham tried to do 30 years ago was hugely controversial, but it's undeniable that he was a pioneer and that he was the first person to allow couples and women a choice in who their donor would be. these days, those who need it are able to choose from the best quality and pedigree when it comes to sperm and even eggs. and ultimately, if given the choice, wouldn't you want to give your child the best opportunities possible?

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the sperm bank industry has changed drastically since the heyday of the repository 30 years ago. what graham pioneered, the screening of sperm for desirable traits like intelligence, is now common place. this is fairfax cryo bank, a sperm bank and fertility

research center in virginia. inside this building, billions of sperm have been collected, all waiting for a shot at creating a baby. >> have you ever used a microscope before? >> not since seventh grade. but i'm seeing a plethora. wow, they're fast little buggers. >> how much sperm is in this specimen? >> a healthy male will have 20 million sperm per milliliter of semen produced. >> 20 million? >> 20 million. >> she's the lab director who oversees the journey of these little guys from collection cup to cryo tank and is the gate keeper for who is and isn't allowed to donate. >> is it hard to become a donor? >> it's a rigorous screening process. which is a good thing. because we want really high quality guys in the program. less than 1% of the men who apply to the fairfax donor program will make it through to become an active donor. >> less than 1%? >> less than 1%. statistically it's easier to get into an ivy league school than

the fairfax program. >> that's wild. >> yes. >> thank you for calling, this is chantal, how can i help you today? >> we live in a competitive world. now more than ever, parents are looking to give their kids every possible advantage. they come here looking for genetic material to do just that. >> okay, donor 4315 is identity option english german, english scottish, wave brown hairs and blue eyes. right now he has two vials available. >> they're searching for genes to help them create kids that are healthy, good-looking, and smart. but whose dna is in such high demand? >> a sperm donor has arrived and will talk to us, but we cannot show his face because anonymity is of the utmost importance, but i do have this extensive, 15-page profile, so i know a lot about him. he has blue eyes, he likes pizza, he has dog, he plays golf

and did track and played football. i know his gpa. based on this description, i'm thinking, tom brady. ♪ >> hi. >> good morning. >> i'm lisa. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> not exactly tom brady but you're just as handsome. >> thank you. >> thanks for talking to us. do you want to have a seat? >> sure. >> so how long have you been doing this? >> um, a little over a year and a half. i think i'm one of the more prevalent donors, i was asked to donate more than just once a week. i do it twice weekly. >> even among the 1%, this donor is elite, desirable for his academic background and the high motility of his sperm. basically he's got olympic quality swimmers. this is where the magic happens, huh? >> this is it. small little room. like a doctor's office basically

with a leather couch and television. >> not the most intimate place. >> no, but there are multiple ways to get in the mood, magazines and the television. or you can use your imagination. >> are there things you're supposed to do before you come in? >> yeah, you're supposed to stay abstinent for 72 hours, which puts a damper on your personal life, especially if you're a twice-a-week donor. >> then after this, you just go to work and have the rest of your day? >> exactly. >> all right, i guess i will excuse myself now. >> okay. >> all right. >> once the deed is done, it's on to the deep freeze. donations are frozen in a vault of liquid nitrogen, suspended in mid swim, until it's their time to shine. >> so about how much sperm is being housed here? >> tens of thousands of vials from hundreds of donors are stored in these tanks. >> and how long does it keep

for? >> technically we're not sure how long, but we have a successful pregnancy from sperm that was frozen for 29 years. >> that's amazing. under this roof, millions of potential babies are suspended in these tanks. a mind-boggling catalog for those searching for the perfect sperm. but today the donor isn't always a man. infertility can be a problem for women. but science has opened doors here too. and for couples seeking donor eggs, there are just as many choices. >> is it unnatural to choose characteristics off of a list when conceiving a baby? yes. is it wrong? i don't believe that it is. ♪

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♪ we've been talking a lot about sperm and characteristics of sperm donors, but what happens when you're a woman with fertility issues? we are in a rural part of oregon to meet a couple that is dealing with exactly that. holly, an english teacher, met john over nine years ago. they married and put down roots, planning to start a family.

but after years of trying to get pregnant naturally, they weren't having any success. >> what was that like? i mean, you two are young. you two have been trying so long and not being able to get pregnant. >> well -- >> it's frustrating. >> yeah, it was. i felt like something about me was broken. and the thing i wanted most in the world, a baby, was being kept from me. >> at the time, the quality of holly's eggs seemed okay, and while john's sperm count was low, the doctors said there was still a fighting chance they could have kids through ivf, invitro fertilization. several embryos were successfully created and frozen. a stock of potential babies ready to be born. the first egg implantation took and their son ezra was born nine months later. >> um, i don't know. >> what is this letter?

>> a. >> at what point did you decide you definitely wanted to try to have another? >> well, we knew for sure always that we wanted more than one. so we had these five frozen embryos back at the clinic and said, we want to transfer these guys. >> they tried to get pregnant, but one by one, the frozen embryos weren't working. and finally their stockpile was empty. >> that was really crushing. because now you are out of everything, and i'm three years older, and they started to wonder about why these other embryos hadn't taken. to my great surprise, i learned that my ovarian reserve was extremely low, and had been extremely low three years before. >> what are you doing?. >> ez are's birth was an anomaly. moving forward, there was no

chance of another successful pregnancy with holly's own eggs. if holly and ed wanted another child, they needed to adopt for find another egg donor. egg brokers thrive, operating as a -- travel logistics. while it's a bit of an understatement, the hardest mart for holly and john is picking the right donor, and there are many to choose from. >> you see here, there are a million things you can choose. >> about how many profiles have you looked at already? >> oh, my goodness, thousands. >> really? >> yeah.

>> for me, it's almost a chance to improve upon yourself. you're looking at these donors and you're like, well, i always wanted to be taller. so i'll check that in, and maybe we can get someone who's got brown hair and brown eyes and who's 5'9". >> what kind of education would be acceptable? >> would high school graduate only be -- >> she graduated ten years ago, but hasn't pursued any advanced degree. >> so that's kind of a red flag? >> i probably wouldn't go with her. >> she was in a lot of spoortrt cheerleader, honor roll. >> after scrolling through a couple of profiles, we stumbled

upon one holly hadn't seen before. >> very involved and very active. >> bilanguainguabilingual. she considers her to be a metal -- >> i wear my heart on my sleeve and i am a quote, go getter. >> oh. >> i like it. a go getter, that's what we were looking for. >> i'm good luck. >> you are good luck. >> if we have a daughter, we have to name her after you for finding our donor. >> the price tag for donations is high, up to $10,000 for proven donors with successful birth rates. there's no guarantee for success, but it's not stopping them. >> the most important thing to me is to be a mom. if i can find someone who looks sort of like me and has some of

the characteristics that i do, i really am okay with that. s to g. gotta get greater growth. i just talked to ups. they got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. like smart pick ups. they'll only show up when you print a label and it's automatic. we save time and money. time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics.

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my journey has taken me from coast to coast, finding families

who are not -- since it's insepgs, there's been a lot of hoopla around the sue pozory, how have you dealt with that over the years? >> well, we fess up to it. yeah, we got genius kids, we're going to take over the world. >> i think it all has to do with what you give to your family, how you go through your struggles together, the good times and the bad times. >> you have arrived from this reputed genius sperm bank, are you a genius? >> i really believe that there's genius in every person. i have a lot of passion and drive and motivation and i think i put it into whatever i'm doing, and i see that in my sister, definitely, and i see it

in my brother as well. >> in my opinion, the real lasting legacy is there are now this group of children who may have been selectively bred to be more intelligent, maybe they will do something really good for the human race. his legacy is up in the air until all of those kids have gone their full life span and you can actually measure their accomplishments. i have to do something with the gifts i've been given. i have to actually do something, i can't just sit on the couch. >> why do you feel this way? >> it's a responsibility. i feel like since i have children, i have a stake in the future, their future, and i have to make the world a better place for them? >> do you think you all revolutionize the idea of choice in choosing genetic material for your donor? >> i know we did.

i suppose we started out with high ideals, but as time went on, he would realize that this is not so easy. he tried to recruit lots of people. his dream then was, if there are sperm banks, they should change. and it has. >> the idea of hedging your bets with a smart donor is now common place, but what will it mean for the future? will there come a day that we can design our children from scratch, only to pick the best and brightest traits for them. even if that brave new world is around the corner, would we even want it? wouldn't it take away the wonder of watching a child grow up? >> it's anyone's guess as to whether jet is going to be smart or successful, but as far as we're concerned, she can be

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