ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
The Goodness Tour travels to Poland and Ukraine to bring art therapy to war refugees. In addition the film interviews international experts breaking down the science of Expressive Arts Therapy.

SYNOPSIS
The Goodness Tour team, consisting of married master muralist and painters Benjamin Swatez and Azerine Deluca, musician Luc Reynaud, his wife movement arts teacher Safiya Reynaud, and filmmaker Jeremiah Alexis Verdecias touch down in Krakow, Poland. Their mission is to deliver their art therapy modalities in daily classes to Ukrainian refugee children through a Polish arts organization called Fundacja Zustricz, who focus on Ukrainians who have come to Poland fleeing the war in Ukraine.

While most of the team is working with the Ukrainian refugees in Krakow, Benjamin has volunteered for a dangerous mission inside Ukraine. Alongside an American pastor named Bill Bixby, Ben will be driving into two locations, Moshchun and Lviv. He will deliver aid and collaborate with the local communities on a large-scale public mural representing their neighborhood, culture, and dreams of future peace.

While we showcase this boots on the ground mission, utilizing the emerging psycho social therapy of Expressive Arts, we segue into interviews with international scientist and therapist as they break down the science and techniques of Expressive Arts Therapy. Experts like Stephen K. Levine, Ph.D., who is the Chair of Philosophy and Poetics in the Arts, Health and Society Division of the European Graduate School.

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, who did the first studies on the effects of SSRIs on PTSD, was a member of the first neuro-imaging team to investigate how trauma changed brain processes, and did the first research linking BPD and deliberate self-injury to trauma and neglect in early childhood. And Melinda Ashley Meyer, Ph.D., a bioenergetics-therapist at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies and the Director and Co-founder of the Norwegian Institute for Expressive Art and Communication.

PROJECT TYPE Documentary Short

DIRECTOR Jeremiah Alexis Verdecias
SCREENWRITER Benjamin Swatez, Jeremiah A. Verdecias
PRODUCER Peggy Callahan, Lisa McCarthy
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Jeremiah Alexis Verdecias, Benjamin Swatez
IMPACT PRODUCER Luc Reynaud

WEBSITE TheGoodnessTour.org

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