Television Documentary on Adventist Schools to Be Released Worldwide
From a News Release, November 25. 2014: A documentary about Adventist schools will begin airing on the United States Public Broadcasting System (PBS) world service in December. It is currently being broadcast on PBS television stations in the U.S. and will now reach a wider audience.
The Blueprint: The Story of Adventist Education is a one-hour documentary film that tells the story of how Adventists have built one of the largest faith-based school systems in America, founded on teaching the whole child; body, mind and spirit. “We are delighted with the upcoming broadcasts on PBS World,” says filmmaker Martin Doblmeier. “It is a constant challenge to find creative ways to bring stories of faith to a mainstream audience in America today but with the addition of PBS World a whole new audience will have a chance to be inspired by this story.”
The film has been described as “real life drama, heart-warming stories, and a little humor.” Doblmeier is an award-winning director of PBS programs such as Bonhoeffer and The Power of Forgiveness. This new film is a dramatic, multi-story documentary about the education institutions of the Adventist movement. It is the third in a trilogy. The Adventists explored an American-born religion with adherents who live seven to ten years longer than the average person. The Adventists 2 explored how Adventists are taking their health success to the far reaches of the globe through medical mission work.
The Blueprint takes the viewer to eight Adventist schools across America from the Bronx, New York City, where the concern is the very safety of the children, to Arizona’s Holbrook Indian School, where Navajo students are discovering ways to combine their native culture with modern American life. In Colorado, a school is using the beauty of nature to reveal each child’s role in creation. In Alabama, where over a century ago missionaries brought education by boat to the newly freed slaves, today a school is thriving. In North Carolina, a program mixes academics with hands-on trades in keeping with the vision of Adventist founder, Ellen White. In Maryland hands-on trade is keeping pace with trends in technology, and in California a school is finding the balance in teaching both evolution and creation theology.
“Good teachers have the feeling, these are my children,” says education pioneer and noted American philosopher Parker Palmer. “And I have a responsibility to them that goes beyond, way beyond, downloading information.” Throughout the film children provide one surprise after the next, proving again they are the greatest treasure.
DVD copies of the new film are available at this Web address: https://journeyfilms.com/shop/the-blueprint-the-story-of-adventist-education/