People Say I’m Crazy (1989) is a 56 minute award-winning color documentary produced by the California Network of Mental Health Clients. It is based on the findings from the Well-Being Project, a ground-breaking survey conducted in 1987 by mental health consumers to explore what factors promote or deter the well-being of persons commonly labeled as mentally ill in California. Jean Campbell, Ph. D. , currently the Director of the Program in Consumer Studies and Training at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, was principal investigator of the Well-Being Project and wrote and narrated the documentary. In People Say I’m Crazy the Well-Being Project statistics are brought into sharp personal focus by the mental health consumers who relate their experiences of mental illness and treatment by the traditional mental health system, and stories of their everyday lives. Interwoven though out the stories are scenes from a wide variety of peer-run programs. This documentary emphasizes the person, not the illness. It proclaims, “In a world of stigma, poverty and injustice, our voices illuminate the value of self-help, creativity, meaningful work and activity, and basic human dignity and respect. Most importantly, we speak for ourselves”.
