A thief has ruined Christmas for a California teenager with autism by steeling his gifts straight from the family porch.

Footage from Chuck and Colleen Saftler's home security camera captured a man sneaking onto the porch of the couple's Studio City home in Los Angeles, California on Friday afternoon and taking seven boxes of presents, as well as newly delivered items.

Among those stolen was the Saftlers' Christmas gift for their autistic son Jackson, who the couple said had been checking the mailbox every day for the gift he did not know had been snatched away.

CBS Los Angeles reports that Jackson has asked for only one thing for Christmas for three years now: the Disney Collection CD's Volumes 1 to 4.

Chuck says Volume 3 is hard to find, but they found a copy in the UK.  As the item was stolen so close to Christmas, there was not enough time to find a replacement.

 Jackson will be devastated, according to his parents, who said not receiving the CD would cause the teen confusion and pain that he will relive over and over again.

Colleen said, "It seems silly because it's just a CD, but to him it's everything and this is all he wants and all he asked for. And it's not too much to ask for him to get something he wants for Christmas. It's not fair."

CBS reports that the thief followed a UPS truck that stopped at the Saftlers' home. The man then circled the block and returned to the family's house to steal the packages.

The surveillance footage shows the thief pulling up to the Saftler's driveway at around 3:30pm in a silver car. The man, wearing dark pants and a gray, hooded sweatshirt, unlatched the family's fence and loaded the packages from the Saftler's porch into his car.

The family has contacted the police. They also took to Twitter and Facebook, where they posted the surveillance footage, to enlist the public's help in identifying the thief.

The couple say they just want to get their son's CD back.

'It's gonna ruin [my son's] Christmas,' Colleen said.