How a Seed Turns Into a Spark
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent van Gogh
I began my film career in 2013. I was creating a performance called When the Fall Comes, centered on my work with movement therapy and performance. Honoring the losses I had endured over several years, I knew that a creative ritual was necessary for my healing and personal expression.
When I started to piece together the performance, I got the inspiration to document the process. Lo and behold, this intuitive thought turned into my first film.
When I was in college, I dabbled in film while pursuing my photography major, and I always felt drawn to it. But I never could envision how to make it into a career; it was a field dominated by men back in the early nineties and there was no clear path to take. However, this planted a seed. And surprise, surprise — in the middle of my career as an expressive arts therapist and somatic movement therapist, I found myself dropped into the world of documentary film.
When the Fall Comes,(opens in new tab) a documentary short, had more success than I expected. The film was highlighted at many film festivals and quickly became a resource to illustrate how the arts could support grief.
Soon after, I was encouraged by a coach who said, “You are a filmmaker, and you need to make another film.” I hadn’t really thought about it this way until he called out the artist in me to step into the filmmaker role more actively. The topic was a no-brainer: I wanted to focus on my ongoing work and passion for addiction/recovery from a creative lens. This gave birth to The Creative High(opens in new tab), a documentary, which has taken me on a 10-year adventure. I'm so proud that this award-winning film has had such success and is starting its nationwide broadcast on PBS this September.
I also made another film before I left San Francisco, which I’ve shared with many of you in my circle, I Never Was a Hippie, I Just Looked Like One(opens in new tab), where I worked with a dear artist friend of mine, Hank Sultan, at 85 years of age, to bring his self-portraits into animation and tell the story of his life through this short film..
All of this has come from a little seed - wanting, when I was younger, to find my voice through film, and then a spark, when I was doing my performance in 2013 and recognized that I could bring something into existence that would reach a broader audience.
“Creativity is the power to create something new, to reach deep into our subconscious for that ‘aha’ solution. Sometimes it happens in a nanosecond, and sometimes that solution can take a lifetime to reveal itself.” — Linda Naiman
I’m so excited to share all of my films with you, which you’ll be able to view in the next month. I’d love to hear about the seeds or sparks in your own creative life — and the ways you might want to help them take root to become something of more substance and imprint in the world.
The Creative High Comes to PBS This September
September is National Recovery Month, and I’m so grateful to share a milestone that has been years in the making: The Creative High is coming to PBS!
Through the stories of nine artists in recovery, our award-winning documentary, (directed by yours truly and produced by Dianne Griffin), The Creative High, looks at how dance, music, theater, photography, painting, and other forms of creative expression can help restore purpose, build resilience, and offer another way of experiencing aliveness.
We are also marking this moment with a special PBS Celebration on Kinema. From September 12–19, you can stream the PBS cut from anywhere in the world.
Your ticket also includes an invitation to our Meet the Artists virtual celebration on Wednesday, September 16 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET, where we’ll gather with many of the artists featured in the film.
Find your local PBS station and air date!
Watch on Kinema + join the PBS Celebration!
When the Fall Comes was initiated by Adriana in response to her struggle with grief after the death of her husband. She documented dreams and memories and created poetry about her experiences about her experiences for over five years. Adriana supported by a great team was able to craft a film that brings us into a compelling story of loss and renewal. When the Fall Comes inquires into the nature of grief and directly shows us how art can be an alternate source of healing.
Watch "When the Fall Comes" Here(opens in new tab).
I Never Was a Hippie, I Just Looked Like One, Adriana’s latest film, co-directed with Kirk Goldberg, illustrates a lifetime of art-making through self-portrait paintings and animation narrated by outlier and San Francisco native Hank Sultan. Hank offers us wit, sarcasm, and honest reflections as he documents his inner life and outside influences. This documentary short reveals the wisdom of an artist and the perspective of a ‘Luddite’ that flies in the face of technological distractions, sharing how creativity, activism, and family life produce longevity and personal fulfillment.
Watch I Never Was a Hippie, I Just Looked Like One on YouTube(opens in new tab)