Tom Weidlinger is an independent filmmaker who has been writing, directing, and producing documentary films for thirty-five years. Many of his films have won festival awards, and twenty-one have aired nationally on public television. Concerned with themes of social justice, his work deals with a broad range of topics, from the dilemmas of humanitarian aid in the Congo to the struggles of high school students with learning differences. After a lifetime of city dwelling and global travel, Weidlinger moved to the rural foothills of the Sierras. He and his wife, Sharon, live in a straw-bale house on twenty acres of land forested with oak and manzanita. When he is not writing or working on a film in his editing room, he volunteers at a community center, helping teenagers find their voice through filmmaking. He loves to snowshoe and hike in the mountains with Sharon, and takes special pleasure in close observation of natural world just outside his front door.