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Wakan Films' documentary:
"Attitudinal Healing"
and
the work of author & psychiatrist Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione
TO Wakan Films Documentary MAIN PAGE
Summary of this page:
TREATMENT AND GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE ATTITUDINAL HEALING DOCUMENTARY
Treatment for
Television Documentary on Attitudinal Healing
(February 09, 2000)
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this documentary is to demonstrate the power of Attitudinal Healing to heal the inner spirit and transform an individual's experience of life & death. The healing power of Attitudinal Healing is exemplified by the journey of it's founder, Dr. Jerry Jampolsky, the people who have been touched by his work, and those who have influenced his life & teachings.
PROJECT SUMMARY:
What:
Award-winning documentary film company, Wakan Films, has agreed to produce a documentary for educational television about the inspiring and spiritually transforming work of the best-selling author and psychiatrist, Dr. Gerald Jampolsky.
The purpose of this documentary is to demonstrate the power of Attitudinal Healing to heal the inner spirit and transform the experience of life and death. This documentary will discuss the universal principles of Attitudinal Healing and practical ways to apply them. Dr. Jerry Jampolsky created The Center for Attitudinal Healing in Sausalito, California, and has helped establish a network of over 100 locally organized and operated chapters worldwide.
Filmmakers will capture staff, group facilitators, volunteers and participants as they share stories and experiences from the Sausalito, California Center for Attitudinal Healing, which Dr. Jampolsky founded. In addition, the documentary will bring attention to the innovative work of
Centers for Attitudinal Healing all over the world that comprise the International Network for Attitudinal Healing.
Several notable elements of the film include Jerry and Diane's personal friendships and relationships with such people as singer John Denver, who wrote several songs for the Center which we'd like to include in the documentary; the influential Mother Teresa, with whom they enjoyed numerous meetings, and the Dalai Lama, a model for peace and forgiveness.
The film will also include Jerry and Diane's trips to Iran, Russia, the former Yugoslav Republics, and other areas of international crisis and conflict, examining ways in which they were able to help in the healing as well as witness the effects of the transforming power of love and
forgiveness.
Jerry's remarkable accomplishments are known to many, including graduating from Stanford Medical School, having a very successful psychiatry practice, and writing numerous widely praised and successful books. What many people don't know is that Jerry had a dyslexic childhood, which contributed to his being sent to remedial classes in secondary school and in college.
Lessons to be learned from this film are numerous, and some of the greatest teachings come from such sources as AIDS group participants at The Center for Attitudinal Healing, children who are living with major illnesses, street kids in Buenos Aires, refugees in Croatia, and successful work with prison inmates, to name a few.
Who:
Dr. Jampolsky is the author of the best selling "Love is Letting Go of Fear," "Teach Only Love" and 11 other books, including his recent release "Forgiveness: The Greatest Healer of All." He has appeared on many television programs including The Oprah Show, 60 Minutes, Donahue, the Today Show, Merv Griffith, and others. He was formerly on the faculty of the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, and is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Wakan Films has a successful award-winning track record, which includes national television broadcasts. Wakan Films is committed to serving the Greatest and Highest Good, and to creating positive changes in the world through filmmaking. "Wakan" is a Lakota Sioux word meaning, "having qualities of the Great Spirit," or "done in the spirit of the Great Spirit."
Producer-Director Khashyar Darvich sees the importance of this documentary, and has agreed to focus on the Attitudinal Healing documentary as his major project for 2001, giving it priority and the majority of his attention and effort for that year, and longer, if needed.
Currently, Darvich is producing a major documentary about a Nobel Prize-nominated woman named "Peace Pilgrim," who walked over 25,000 miles across America in 28 years for peace, from 1953 until her death in 1981. Peace Pilgrim has often been compared to Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The current Peace Pilgrim documentary includes interviews with: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, poet, writer, and director Dr. Maya Angelou; actor and activist Dennis Weaver (star of "McCloud," "Gunsmoke," "Duel" (Spielberg's first film), "Lonesome Dove" and dozens of other movies); John Robbins (international best-selling author of "A Diet for a New America"); author
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (author of "Death and Dying," and world renowned for identifying the emotional stages of dying); Dr. Robert Muller (former Assistant Secretary General of the UN, and Chancellor of the UN's University for Peace in Costa Rico); author Gerald Jampolsky (best-selling
author of "Love is letting Go of Fear," and "Teach only Love,"); Dan Millman (author of "Way of the Peaceful Warrior"); Dr. Vincent Harding (friend of M.L.K, civil rights scholar, and one of the early leaders of the civil rights movement); and Evrett Loomis (one of the pioneers of holistic
medicine-- he coined the spelling of "holistic" with a "holi").
The film will include music by America's most innovative and well-known living composer, Philip Glass, as well as other prominent world-renowned musicians.
Why:
The essence of this film will be about healing lives, and how each of us can find inner peace, regardless of our circumstances. Another important element of this documentary is capturing the depth of unconditional love and the shifts of perception that take place at the Center for Attitudinal Healing. The film will follow members of support groups as they find inner peace through their efforts in helping each other, learning together to truly "live" until they die.
The documentary will explore the inspiring and powerfully transforming qualities of Attitudinal Healing and the work of Dr. Jampolsky, and how this work, over and over again, helps people change the way they see the world, seeing it as a loving place as opposed to a fearful one. When ones attitude towards situations in life changes from fear to love, then one becomes truly healed and experiences inner peace.
The filmmakers are very excited about producing this documentary, and believe that it will make a positive contribution to the world in a media industry that produces so many television and film programs about violence and negative subject matter. Films like this one are needed and are
important.
Where:
The documentary will follow Dr. Jampolsky and his wife, Dr. Diane Cirincione, as they travel around the world to speak, meet with people, and help others heal themselves emotionally and spiritually. The film will also capture the triumphant personal inner and outer healing of lives working with the Center for Attitudinal Healing located in Sausalito, California, which was founded by Dr. Jampolsky in 1975 after he successfully overcame alcoholism and the painful ending of a 20 year marriage.
How:
The concepts of Attitudinal Healing aim to respect the individual's unique personal transformational process and bring love, peace and acceptance. These will be demonstrated through specific personal examples and stories as we follow both Dr. Jampolsky and Dr. Cirincione, and the volunteers and support group members of the Center for Attitudinal Healing. Attitudinal Healing defines health as inner peace and healing as letting go of fear. Many dramatic moments will be shared that will demonstrate the healing power of love, peace, forgiveness, and acceptance that are at the heart of Attitudinal Healing.
Most films of this kind would cost between $200,000 to $500,000. Wakan Films has successfully produced other similar documentaries (with similar positive themes) in the $90,000 to $110,000 range. The Attitudinal Healing film's budget is $90,000, which is a fraction of what a film with such professional and successful filmmakers would cost. Producers and directors at Wakan Films believe so strongly in the positive message of the film that they have agreed to work without making a financial profit on the film, receiving only their minimal living expenses. They believe that the true reward in making this film is the satisfaction of having contributed to inspiring and touching audiences in the greatest way possible, and in serving the Greatest Good.
BASIC DOCUMENTARY CONTENT OUTLINE:
1. Jerry Jampolsky's personal life
2. Jerry's Spiritual Awakening
3. The birth of Attitudinal Healing
4. The Center for Attitudinal Healing
5. The global expansion of Attitudinal Healing
6. The continuing work of Jerry & Diane
1. Jerry's Personal Life
· Jerry's life as example of Attitudinal Healing in action
· Parents migrated from Russia & England
· Childhood
· undiagnosed dyslexia
· failed kindergarten
· difficulty learning to read & write
· College years
· barely admitted to UC Berkeley
· flunked entrance English/D- in dumbbell English
· teacher told him "Jampolsky, I don't know what you are going to do in life, but for God's sake, don't ever try to write a book."
· Became militant atheist after friend died in auto accident
· Graduated Stanford Medical school with incredible effort
· Married during medical school(?)
· Professional life
· Child & adult psychiatrist
· Financial & Professional success
· Workaholic & alcoholic
· Loving to patients/Tyrant at home
· Unhappy & terrified of death
2. Jerry's Spiritual Awakening
· 1973 Depression
· "having everything not enough - something missing
· Blamed wife & turned to alcohol
· 20 year marriage ended in great conflict
· Introduced to A Course in Miracles by friend
· Through "Course" opened to possibility of making spiritual choices:
- Choose Peace of God as his only goal
- Make Forgiveness as his only function
- Listen to Divine guidance to direct all choices in life
· Heard a voice say "Physician, heal thyself. This is the way home."
· Stopped drinking alcohol immediately
· As instructed by inner guidance, also stopped charging fees for his psychiatric services
· Experienced Inner Peace for the first time in his life
3. The Birth of Attitudinal Healing
· 1975 - Jerry has pivotal encounter in pediatric oncology unit of hospital
· Boy with cancer asking Doctor "What is it like to die" & doctor changing the subject.
· In meditation next day, he received guidance to start small center for children suffering from catastrophic illness, where services were free.
· Started psychological-spiritual support group for children where the children would be teachers for the adults as well as for each other.
· trained a few friends to acts as volunteer facilitators
· Selected guiding "Principles" based on his understanding of a Course in Miracles
1. The essence of our being is love
2. Health is inner peace, healing is letting go of fear
3. Giving & receiving are the same
4. Now it the only time there is and each instant is for giving
5. We can let go of the past and the future
6. We can become love finders rather than fault finders
7. We can learn to love ourselves and others by forgiving rather than judging
8. We can choose & direct ourselves to be peaceful inside, regardless of what is happening outside.
9. We can focus on the whole of life, rather than the fragments
10. We are students and teachers to each other.
11. Since Love is eternal, death need not be viewed as fearful
12. We can always perceive ourselves and others as either extending love, or giving a call for help.
· Was out of money when he wrote "Love is Letting Go of Fear"
· book mentioned on Carson show & became instant "best seller"
4. The Center for Attitudinal Healing
· First children's group quickly led to other groups to support siblings & parents, and the Center for Attitudinal Healing was formed in Tiburon, California
· Over next few years, numerous groups began at request of local community: adult groups, care giver groups, bereavement groups, AIDS groups (Group participants, past & present, will be
interviewed; Center staff will be interviewed, groups will be filmed)
· Stories of transformation, forgiveness & healing began to spread
· During late 1970's & early '80's, Center received national media attention
· (Donahue, 60 minutes, Mr. Rogers, Today Show, Merv Griffith and others)
· Jerry met Diane Cirincione in 1981, and they soon began lecturing together.
· (They married in 1990)
· People from around the world wanted to come to the Center to learn Attitudinal Healing and to integrate it into their own lives, families & communities.
· The Tiburon Center (later in Sausalito) began offering intensive training workshops in Attitudinal Healing
· Attitudinal Healing has developed as a way of retraining our minds to let go of fear, guilt and anxiety in order to experience peace of mind. It teaches that it is not other people or circumstances that cause discomfort or peace, rather it is our attitudes toward these thing that lead to an experience of happiness or unhappiness. Attitudinal Healing offers an opportunity to experience the transforming power of forgiveness, acceptance and love. The Attitudinal Healing peer support model, developed by the Center is a practical method for developing safety and trust in all of our relationships (see attached guidelines)
· The Center continues to offer emotional and spiritual support free of charge to thousands of people every year
· Everyone - staff, volunteers & group members - come to the Center for their
own healing
5. The Global Expansion of Attitudinal Healing
· Children as Teachers of Peace, founded by Jerry & Diane in 1980 as an extension of AH. (took groups of children to Russia, China and Central America)
· Jerry & Diane accepted invitations to lecture around the world.
· New Centers were formed beginning in early '80s.
· Today AH programs are offered in over 150 locations in 25 countries to support people striving to find peace, while facing crises. These include:
· Refugees in Croatia
· Street Children in Mexico City and Buenos Aires
· Children with cancer in California
· Prisoners in Brazil
· Parents grieving the death of a child
· Children confronted with violence in Texas
· A mother in the Midwest, forgiving her son's murderer
· A community in Ghana without adequate water
· Families of heroin addicts in Australia
· Business men who have lost their jobs in Argentina
· Law-makers in Hawaii, seeking a better way to serve the people
· Countless inspiring stories of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with dignity and love.
· All centers are independent (formed by the community, for the community)
· Examples of the Power of Love in Action.
6. The continuing work of Jerry & Diane
· Relationships/inspirational experiences with:
· Mother Teresa
· Dalai Lama
· John Denver
· 13 Books published to date
· Life-affirming stories of their travels & relationships
· Boy who stole in Ghana
· Message from shaman in Peru
· Forgiveness in Findhorn
· Healing in Iran
· Jerry's current vision & focus
· His Ideas of God & Spirituality
· He lives what he believes & teaches
Visions for future of AH