Give the Gift That Will Tell the World That It's Safe to Publicly Speak About Mental Illness — Make a Contribution to "Can" a Documentary Film

[Pearl J. Park]

Dear friends,
We are almost there—about a hair away from the finish line! This
documentary film (amongourkin.org) was a labor of love I started 7
years ago with minimal funding and today it has won the praise of many
disability rights advocates, consumers, mental health professionals,
public health advocates, and scholars of psychology who have seen the
work-in-progress. All we need now is a little more money to pay for
color correction, sound mix, legal review, film festival entry fees,
and transfer to High-Definition video. Earlier this year, we showed
our film at Yale and received round of high praises from professors of
psychology and the Alliance of Southeast Asian Students.

It's a great story—worth telling the world because Can makes you
understand that it's safe to talk publicly about mental illness while
most Asian Americans will not even tell their closest friends about
their mental illness. According to some studies, only 12 percent of
Asians would mention their mental health problems to a friend or
relative (versus 25 percent of whites). Therein lies the significance
of Can’s public declaration of living with a mental disability and of
his struggle for recovery.

What does it take to heal from mental illness? This film follows 37-
year-old Can Truong, a refugee who was among the millions of boat
people who fled Vietnam in 1970’s, as he searches for healing, dignity
and recovery from depression and bipolar disorder. It is one of the
first to intimately portray the experience of mental illness from an
Asian American perspective. Can becomes active in the national mental
health consumer movement, a civil rights effort for people with mental
illnesses. Though he was once an outstanding scholar, Can was forced,
due to his mental health issues, to leave a prestigious university
where he was undertaking pre-med studies in 1993. During the following
12-year period, Can was hospitalized 6 times, tried more than 20
different medications, entered several clinical drug trials, and
underwent 15 electroconvulsive shock treatments. Through it all, Can
becomes a mental health recovery advocate — one of the few Asian
Americans in the country.

Please donate to this ground-breaking film today before Dec 31 to get
your tax-deductible donation. As little as $1, $5, or $10 will make a
difference in crowdsource funding; and will bring us that much closer
to our goals. We’re offering perks at the $10 donations and up. At the
$50 level, you will get a sneak peek of the latest cut of the film
online, plus an acknowledgement of your gift on our website and film
credits. At the $150 level, you will receive a DVD with an nonprofit
license. At the $250 level, you will receive a DVD with an educational
license. At the $500 level, you will receive a DVD with screening
rights. Please note that the DVDs will not available until completion
of the film later in 2012.

To make a tax-deductible donation, please click on the below link,
under "Project" select "Can (Pearl J. Park),” and then complete rest
of form:
https://market.ifp.org/newyork/fiscal/Donation.cfm

To make a donation through indiegogo.com, please click below:
http://www.indiegogo.com/Can-a-documentary-film-by-Pearl-J-Park#team

To make a donation through Paypal, please click here:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KR8RV78YY5UFQ

Thank you so much friends for your unwavering support. None of this
would have been possible without so many of you connecting me with the
right people and resources. Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Pearl J. Park
lightf...@gmail.com
(201) 589-0623