Rhinoceros Presentations in association with Groundswell presents:
Changing Minds at Concord High School
directed by Susan Weiser- Finley
At-risk students partner with neuroscientists to ask the question:
Will practicing mindful meditation three minutes a day change their lives?
SILENT RIVER FILM FESTIVAL
CHANGING MINDS will be screened (along with four other shorts)
Sunday, October 19 at 12:35 PM – 2:25 PM
at the Edward Westpark 8 Theatre
3735 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA
Irvine, CA 92606
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Short Documentary Showcase Changing Minds at the Concord High School (USA) |
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Concord High is a transfer school – a last chance school for at-risk teens. Most of its students have histories of trauma and academic failure. This film follows them as they participate in a semester-long mindfulness-training program. |
The twist here is that students both helped to film the experience and conducted a scientific study – of their classmates! – comparing the effects of mindfulness training with that of a placebo group. Working as research assistants for scientists from Harvard and Hunter College, they posed the question: Would practicing mindfulness for just three minutes a day help their classmates learn to cope with anxiety and destructive emotions?
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Said one reformed skeptic: Even though you can’t change most of what happens in life, you can change your mind. |
“One of the traumas of our modern times and education is that we vastly underestimate the potential of the mind to transform and flourish.
We are dealing with our mind from morning until evening. It can be our best friend or our worst enemy. The film
CHANGING MINDS AT CONCORD HIGH documents an innovative mindfulness and science program …
that illustrates and responds to this challenge.”
Matthieu Ricard, author, scientist, photographer, Buddhist monk
The film’s director Susan Weiser Finley will join a panel discussion “Cinema for Causes*”
afterwards, from 2:45-4:00 PM (*tickets are free and can also be reserved online)
For festival information and to purchase tickets, check out the links below:
http://www.silentriverfilmfestival.com
http://www.silentriverfilmfestival.com/cinema-for-causes
http://www.silentriverfilmfestival.com/attend-2014-festival
To learn more about the Changing Minds program visit:
http://www.changingmindsprogram.com
CHANGING MINDS AT CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL 