Creative Healing in Mental Health
“Creative work, as is so beautifully demonstrated in this film, is timeless, an inherent part of being human, and always accessible to us.” — Janet Adler, Ph.D., ADTR, Author &...
This series of short films documents various approaches to animation created by persons with chronic mental illness to illustrate their personal narratives. The films were made between the years 1962 and 2001 in psychiatric settings, some inpatient and some outpatient. A variety of techniques are applied and demonstrated, including collage, drawing, painting, and claymation along with the process of staging, adding music, and in general using stop-motion animation to create finished films. They include the process of creation as well as that of production. Themes of isolation, institutionalization, suicidality and homicidality, psychotropic medication, relationships, collaboration, stigma, and freedom vs. dependency are explored. The tone ranges from serious to playful, and the variety is inspiring.
Films include:
The Poet & the Unicorn – Alfred Bader, MD (1962)
Dreams So Real – Oren Rudavsky (1981)
The Color Bunch – Judith Rothschild (1985)
Torino Animators – Tea Taramino (2001)
Torino Animators – Tea Taramino (2001)
Total Running Time: 1 hour, 22 minutes, 28 seconds
Related Films
Breakthrough
This film, sponsored by the Lucy Daniels Foundation, captures the intimate experience of eight artists who have had psychoanalytic treatment. The film also demonstrates the growth and freedom made possible...
Two Dance Therapy Workshops
With Anne Brownell’s articulate narration, the viewer is given an intimate look at the work of two pioneers in expressive arts therapy - Norma Canner and Penny Lewis.