Our project grew out of filmmaker Lucy Winer’s experience making Kings Park: Stories from an American Mental Institution, a documentary about the state hospital to which Lucy was committed as a teenager in the late 1960’s.

From the start of production, it became clear to Lucy and her team that the stories they were privileged to hear had real educational merit and would provide the basis for extraordinary experiential learning opportunities. With this idea in mind, they filmed extensively, capturing personal histories that reached well beyond the limits of their film.

The vivid and deeply personal narratives at the heart of this program have not been heard before and they certainly have not been heard together. Shared from multiple perspectives — consumers, peers, family members, direct care staff, clinicians, administrators, law enforcement and corrections personnel. These stories provide a balance and an overview that challenges viewers to think beyond the scope of their own experience and inspire open dialogue and better understanding. Even the most painful stories offer hope.