diff --git a/tools/gulp/task_helpers.ts b/tools/gulp/task_helpers.ts
index fa21f9915e47..f8941e659f55 100644
--- a/tools/gulp/task_helpers.ts
+++ b/tools/gulp/task_helpers.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,16 @@ const resolveBin = require('resolve-bin');
 
 /** If the string passed in is a glob, returns it, otherwise append '**\/*' to it. */
 function _globify(maybeGlob: string, suffix = '**/*') {
-  return maybeGlob.indexOf('*') != -1 ? maybeGlob : path.join(maybeGlob, suffix);
+  if (maybeGlob.indexOf('*') != -1) {
+    return maybeGlob;
+  }
+  try {
+    const stat = fs.statSync(maybeGlob);
+    if (stat.isFile()) {
+      return maybeGlob;
+    }
+  } catch (e) {}
+  return path.join(maybeGlob, suffix);
 }
 
 
@@ -133,9 +142,11 @@ export function execNodeTask(packageName: string, executable: string | string[],
 
 
 /** Copy files from a glob to a destination. */
-export function copyTask(srcGlobOrDir: string, outRoot: string) {
-  return () => {
-    return gulp.src(_globify(srcGlobOrDir)).pipe(gulp.dest(outRoot));
+export function copyTask(srcGlobOrDir: string | string[], outRoot: string) {
+  if (typeof srcGlobOrDir === 'string') {
+    return () => gulp.src(_globify(srcGlobOrDir)).pipe(gulp.dest(outRoot));
+  } else {
+    return () => gulp.src(srcGlobOrDir.map(name => _globify(name))).pipe(gulp.dest(outRoot));
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/gulp/tasks/components.ts b/tools/gulp/tasks/components.ts
index 90e4f0283d39..30d39c6d7246 100644
--- a/tools/gulp/tasks/components.ts
+++ b/tools/gulp/tasks/components.ts
@@ -28,8 +28,10 @@ task(':watch:components:spec', () => {
 
 task(':build:components:ts', tsBuildTask(componentsDir));
 task(':build:components:spec', tsBuildTask(path.join(componentsDir, 'tsconfig-spec.json')));
-task(':build:components:assets',
-     copyTask(path.join(componentsDir, '*/**/*.!(ts|spec.ts)'), DIST_COMPONENTS_ROOT));
+task(':build:components:assets', copyTask([
+  path.join(componentsDir, '**/*.!(ts|spec.ts)'),
+  path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'README.md'),
+], DIST_COMPONENTS_ROOT));
 task(':build:components:scss', sassBuildTask(
   DIST_COMPONENTS_ROOT, componentsDir, [path.join(componentsDir, 'core/style')]
 ));