A Wider World – – Disabilities Today is a positive, informative, resource for persons with disabilities, by providing current information regarding rehabilitation trends, technological advances, travel, recreation, and community based opportunities for persons or families with disabilities. It is estimated that 80% of American families will acquire some type of disability at some point in their lifetime.
Roadtrip Nation: Being You – Roughly one in five people lives with learning and attention issues (LAIs) like ADHD and dyslexia, yet many of those who live with LAIs feel alone. They’re not. In a new hour-long special, ROADTRIP NATION shares inspiring stories of struggle, self-acceptance and success. BEING YOU, follows the transformative journey of three young people-Stephanie, Noah, and Nicole-as they travel cross-county to find others who, like them, learn differently and have used that difference to build lives doing what they love. Along their journey, they meet with diverse individuals living with LAIs, including entertainer Howie Mandel, Eye to Eye co-founder and chief empowerment officer David Flink, and Attention Deficit Disorder Association president Evelyn Polk Green, and discover that these individuals are not only coping, but thriving. Many credit their learning and attention issues as the driving forces that shaped their success. ROADTRIP NATION: BEING YOU showcases powerful stories that will inspire all viewers to believe that their individual circumstances can be positively used to define their own roads in life.
airs 1/24 at 7 p.m.
Science is Fun (2/30 minute programs) –
airs 1/24 at 1 a.m
First Language: The Race to Save Cherokee – Around fourteen thousand Cherokee remain in their ancestral homeland in the mountains of North Carolina, but few among them still speak their native language, and no children are learning the language at home. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is now fighting to revitalize the language and come to terms with their native heritage in the context of the modern United States.
airs 1/22 at 2 a.m.
Our American Family: The Kurowskis – presents the story of a woman born and raised on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin married to the son of Polish immigrants. At the time, Native Americans had been pressured to forsake their heritage and assimilate into the culture of their white neighbors. Following a tragedy at a paper mill, the Kurowski family moves to the center of the reservation where their selflessness strengthens the community and prepares the next generation to support their Oneida heritage.
airs 1/22 at 4 a.m.
The Wall’s Embrace airs – is an award-winning documentary narrated by Jimmy Buffett about the significance of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and its enduring power to heal. The film emotionally explores the Wall’s continuing impact on its many visitors as well as those most affected by the Vietnam War, with historical perspective, through deeply stirring recollections of veterans, Gold Star families and founders of The Wall.
1/22 at 4:30 a.m.
Dreamers Theater – The uplifting performance documentary DREAMERS THEATER follows a group of cognitively challenged teens and young adults as they rehearse and stage the original musical, Assuming Assumptions. The play dramatizes the issues faced by individuals with special needs in the hopes of increasing awareness about this population and their capabilities. Members of this Richmond, Va.-based acting troupe live with a variety of developmental disabilities, including autism, Down’s Syndrome, Asperger’s Syndrome and other high-functioning disorders or differences. Off-stage, Ross Lipstock – the son of show creator Joan Babich Lipstock – lives with an autism spectrum disorder;on stage, he overcomes his social awkwardness and communication difficulties to portray young men dealing with the same challenges he navigates every day – employment, transportation woes, housing, relationships and more. Dreamers Theater formed in 2004 to extend the support when a developmentally disabled individual reaches adulthood. Today, the community-based theater enhances the lives of these young men and women in myriad ways. It enables them to showcase their artistic abilities, practice transferable life skills, build confidence, gain a higher level of independence and to socialize with, and serve as role models for, their peers. DREAMERS THEATER intercuts real-life stories together with similar scenes from the play: a young couple with Asperger’s syndrome go on a date, a young man with Down’s Syndrome works his shift at a local restaurant and another young man misses his bus stop and loses his way home.
airs 1/22 at 7 p.m.
Live Art: Love – In LIVE ART: LOVE, 200 students of all abilities representing the School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community’s (SPARC) “Live Art” program perform alongside nationally renowned artists and musicians in an unforgettable night of music, dance and visual arts. SPARC’s “Live Art” program is an innovative and inclusive arts education program that integrates performing arts curriculum with special education. Youth with and without developmental disabilities work together in a variety of performing and visual arts classes throughout the year, culminating in a final concert for the community celebrating the importance of human connection. While preparing and rehearsing, the students build powerful relationships and gain understanding and appreciation for one another’s talents and abilities. The most recent “Live Art” concert was organized around the theme of love and features performances by: singer and actor Josh Groban; two-time Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter and SPARC alumnus Jason Mraz; multi-Grammy and Tony Award-nominated Sara Bareilles; and five-time Grammy Award winner, songwriter and keyboardist Michael McDonald, among others. LIVE ART: LOVE is an entertaining and moving musical experience rooted in the messages of acceptance, compassion and empathy for all.
airs 1/23 at 9:30 p.m.
My Voice: One Man’s Journey to Overcome The Silence – A young autistic man fights to help others who, like him, were born without the ability to communicate. Watch the inspiring true story of Matt Hayes as he navigates life and finds his place in the world as a defender of human rights for non-communicative autistic people.
airs 1/23 at 7 p.m.
New England Story for Sustaining Sea – Off the shores of New England, in a region steeped in old maritime tradition, comes a modern wave of big ships, energy industries, and a changing climate, now testing the limits of an already crowded sea. But in a pioneering trial of far-sighted planning – pushed by blueprints for offshore wind energy – old residents and new are coming together to keep their ocean and livelihoods alive.
airs 1/21 at 4:30 a.m.