White Light Communications Collection

Background on White Light Communications

A media production company dedicated to recording the voices of the anti-psychiatry movement, White Light Communications was established as a 501 (c) (3) organization in 1988 with Paul Engels (then Paul Dorfner) as Executive Director. With the assistance of Andrea Blanch of the University of Vermont, Engels successfully applied for one of six Consumer Demonstration Grants available through the National Institute of Mental Health, securing nearly $500,000 over three years (1989-1992) to fund their activities: theirs was the only communications project funded by NIMH.

With NIMH support, White Light Communications purchased television production equipment and rented a space on Kilburn Street in Burlington, Vermont, for five years that they outfitted as a full television production studio and editing suite. The White Light team included three full-time employees -- Engels, his assistant and office manager Sally Angier (later Gignon), and Irene Rae, who directed many of the productions -- and received valuable support from Michael Deacon who was instrumental in many of the productions; Dharam Yadav, University of Vermont faculty advisor and project evaluator; and business manager Gene Racine, along with several production assistants. All were psychiatric survivors, as were all members of the board of directors.

White Light Communications focused closely on recording the perspectives of psychiatric survivors and included interviews with several pioneers in the movement such as Judi Chamberlin, Howie the Harp, and Sally Zinman. Most of the productions were recorded in the Kilburn Street studio, however Engels and his team traveled to Pittsburgh and Berkeley when preparing their two documentaries and to Columbia, South Carolina, to cover Self Help Live, which was produced at South Carolina Public Broadcasting and telecast live throughout North America. Hundreds of psychiatric survivors gathered in groups around North America to view the productions live and to call in questions to the panelists. White Light also interviewed noted figures in disability activism, such as Justin Dart, Paul Carling, and Jackie Parrish, who was their initial contact and major supporter at NIMH.

After the conclusion of the NIMH grant, White Light Communications received funding from the van Amerigen Foundation in NYC and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for an additional two years.