One of the coolest things about my job at International Arts Movement is that I get a bunch of opportunities to attend film screenings, read advance copies of books, be the first to listen to new CD's before they're even released, and get to know people who are making art that matters, sometimes before the rest of the world hears about it!

So yesterday, my co-worker Kevin Gosa and I attended a screening of Grassroots Films' documentary film, The Human Experience, and I couldn't wait to start getting the word out about it. I don't know when it will be released (in fact, they don't know when it will be released), but they are scheduling screenings all over the country and are graciously giving some private screenings at their place in Brooklyn (which is how we got to see it).

Check their site. Watch the trailer. See if they're going to be doing a screening near you and, if they are, invite a bunch of your friends and go. I promise you, you will be so glad you did. Its a remarkable film on many levels, from the creative team behind it to the source material.

I was transported back to My Father's House (La Casa de Mi Padre), the orphanage in El Salvador I volunteered at four times from 2002-2004. It was there that I learned how big my capacity for loving others really is.

I was reminded of my two weeks in Nigeria in 2005 (pictured here), where the scenery and the people were reflections of God's beauty and sin's tragedy unlike anything I had ever seen.

And I was inspired to look around my own life here in New York City, where I rub shoulders every day with people who have been dehumanized on so many levels, whether by homelessness, sexual slavery, greed, lust,abandonment, abuse, or simple sinful conditions that make them forget the creator whose image they bear.

Its time for people to be re-humanized, and this film is an excellent example of how beautiful it is when humanity is restored and life is valued.

Kudos to everyone at Grassroots Films, and be sure to go see it first chance you get!