From the web site of the Cinema Arts Centre
Creativity AN ETERNAL MYSTERY
A Monthly Series Sponsored by Ginger and Stuart Polisner

THE HEALING GARDENS OF NEW YORK
April, 19, 2007

Thursday, April 19 at 7:30pm
In Person: Filmmaker
Alexandra Isles &
gardeners from the film

Beautiful and inspiring, The Healing Gardens of New York tells the stories of the lives and communities transformed by the powerful act of creating gardens and green spaces in response to crime, neglect, poverty, and urban decay. In the Bronx , we meet a man who was “lost and without direction” until a community garden he founded changed not only his life, but the entire area. His garden now has over 100 families as members, sponsors youth mentoring internships, and runs a program that feeds the neighborhood’s needy. In Times Square , we’re introduced to a man who suffers from mental illness, but has found increasing emotional stability through tending a small garden. On Rikers Island , we see how The Greenhouse Project allows inmates to find redemption in their work, while providing necessary job skills for their release. And in East Harlem , we hear from a woman who restored an abandoned garden overrun with graffiti, trash, and drug dealers. Warned repeatedly that her neighbors would destroy her work, she persevered and created a thriving garden that has become a source of pride for the community.
• Writer/director: Alexandra Isles
THE PANEL:
Alexandra Isles, Filmmaker, “The Healing Gardens of New York”
and Gardners from the film