SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
“‘Outsider’ is amazing on so many levels— as a tribute, a history, a case study, and more— and Maury’s art is equally amazing.”
40 minutes (followed by panel discussion). Not Rated. Directed by Ted Haimes. In English.
Stick around after the film for a panel discussion with Laura Ornest, Dr. Cynthia Sortwell, Catherine Ryder, and Sarah Balascio. (Panelist bios below.)
Outsider, a 40 minute award-winning documentary, addresses both the tragedy and redemption that can result from mental illness. This complex landscape becomes personal as we learn about Maury Ornest, whose life encompassed baseball, schizoaffective disorder, and art.
After Maury Ornest’s death at age 58, his sister Laura discovered more than 1,400 paintings in every room of his home and secret storage units, a discovery which set her on an unexpected journey. Outsider presents a rarely seen, unvarnished view of a family’s journey with mental illness and captures the surprising ways they found connection.
Directed by Ted Haimes and produced by Ted Haimes and Nicole Lucas Haimes, Outsider won the Audience Award for best short at the Montclair Film Festival. Maury’s journals are narrated by Gary Gulman.
Laura Ornest is a retired journalist, mental health advocate, Maury’s sister, and a member of the Advisory Board of UCLA Friends of Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She resides half the year in Woolwich, Maine.
Dr. Cynthia Sortwell is a Portland-based child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, and a
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University and Maine Medical Center.
Catherine Ryder is Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Spurwink Services in Maine, and a licensed clinical professional counselor with an MS in Counselor Education.
Sarah Balascio is a nationally certified art therapist and adjunct professor at University of Maine, Farmington. She lives in Yarmouth, Maine.