Director/Producer and Editor

Coleen LeDrew Elgin, M.A., is a documentary filmmaker, video producer, and consultant, whose work focuses on consciousness, healing, and personal growth and awakening. Her clients include Betsy Gordon Foundation, Fetzer Memorial Trust, The Chi Center, and a variety of spiritual teachers and thought leaders. In 2012, Coleen completed the same six-year program in intensive spiritual practice in Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism that this film centers on. It was at the start of that training program that Coleen first had the vision for this film. Coleen was commissioned by the Betsy Gordon Foundation to produce and direct the documentary SCIENCE AND SACRAMENTS: Psychedelic Research and Mystical Experiences. She co-authored with Duane Elgin the book Living Legacies: How to Write, Illustrate, and Share your Life Stories, as well as the report Global Consciousness Change: Indicators of an Emerging Paradigm. Coleen has a background in transformative learning and has managed and directed programs and projects focused on new educational initiatives. She has an M.A. degree in Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation from the California Institute of Integral Studies and has been a meditation practitioner for over 20 years. Visit Elgin Productions to learn more.

Assistant Director and Cinematographer

Michelle Moore has worked professionally in several aspects of video production since 1996, including feature films, commercials, and two children’s television series. She served as assistant video director at Videodiscovery, and managed communications and distribution for the Global Oneness Project, a web-based media project documenting changemakers around the world. Michelle studied film theory and screenwriting at UCLA and trained at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking. Recently she was the field camera and lighting instructor at the Community Media Center of Marin and a producer for Marin TV.

Director of Photography

Don Starnes has been shooting and directing features, commercials, documentaries, music, corporate, and television shows for over 25 years.  His work has won many awards, including Emmys, Addies and CINE Golden Eagles, and gotten high honors at many film festivals, including the Austin, New York, San Francisco and Montreal film festivals. Don has taught cinematography and filmmaking at the Academy of Art University and the Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco

Editor

Catherine Hollander is a short and long-form documentary editor. She has a special interest in what it means to be a spiritual person in the contemporary world, having recently edited the popular feature-length doc “WHEN THE IRON BIRD FLIES: Tibetan Buddhism comes to the West.”  She edited the award-winning films, WE WILL LIVE TO SEE THESE THINGS, directed by Julia Meltzer and David Thorne, and THE TAILENDERS, directed by Adele Horne.

Associate Producers

Sandy Shelton has volunteered for many years: in a Women’s shelter, as a Law Enforcement Chaplain, and as a hospice caregiver and children’s grief counselor.  She is a long-time meditator and member of Sukhasiddhi sangha and she serves on the Sukhasiddhi board. Through working with her own challenges, Sandy is inspired to help others come to peace and healing — supporting this film project is an expression of her aspiration.

Jim Shelton is a successful entrepreneur and has founded and led several natural foods businesses.  He has a wide range of experience assisting non-profit organizations, including serving as a board member for a wetlands preservation group, the board chairman for a large anti-poverty organization and Sukhasiddhi Foundation. Throughout his life Jim has studied religions and he has practiced meditation for 20 years.

Advisors

Annik Brunet, Vajrayana Buddhist Teacher, Artist and Photographer
Jane Brunette, Buddhist Teacher, Writer, Writing Teacher
Peter Russell, Ph.D., author, teacher, media creator, consciousness thought leader
Frances Vaughan, Ph.D., psychologist and author of books integrating psychological and spiritual growth
Roger Walsh, MD, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and religious studies

Thanks and Gratitude

In addition to our team and advisors we’d like to also thank:
Anton Herbert for providing sound recording
Bill Miller for providing production assistance
Tom McAfee for providing camera assistance on a key shoot
Jane Brunette for the title idea and typography
Bill Woolery for consulting and ideas for the short trailer
Barbara Juniper & Bodhi Setchko for performing the song “Oh My Beloved”
Sam Vittoria & Barbara Juniper for use of the music track “Rivers of Grace”
Eric Ramstad (The Watermoons) for use of the music track “Trace”
Stacey Marvel, Joanne Molyneaux, and the Sukhasiddhi Foundation board
Lama Palden and the students in her Tuesday class and Bodhi Program
Roger Walsh and the students participating in the film project
Duane Elgin for support and feedback
Gwen Gordon for consulting on crowdsourcing campaigns
Elizabeth Navas, Gitte Dobrer and other volunteers who helped at the screening
Fractured Atlas, our fiscal sponsor
Beth Alexander our web mistress