I have a long standing interest in neuropsychiatric illness, a term that includes a diverse set of mental disorders including depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, autism, personality disorders, Down’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s, and many more. After years of study, one question regularly pops into my head: How does the existence of these illnesses play into the greater role of society? Are they useful under certain circumstances? A Bay Area non-profit organization has recently approached this topic in a novel and exciting way.
The Bay Area Art & Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Sessions presented their third program in early May here in San Francisco at the ODC Theater. BAASICS, as they are also known, put on multi-media presentations that intend to discuss a range of topics combining scientific and artistic expression, both of which the Bay Area has in abundance . The most recent presentation was titled “The Deep End.” The subtitle describes a little more by saying, “an exploration of neurodiversities, mental disorders, and creativity.” The two hour presentation included an impressive variety of live music performances, abstract and mini documentary videos, scientific talks from esteemed professors (Berkeley, Stanford, and UCSF), confessionals by visual artists, and presentation of community art. With a dramatic cross section of experiencing music written by those suffering from depression, a question and answer session with an autistic child and his professional photographer father, as well as reports of detailed studies of the innately enhanced creativity found in those with bipolar disorder, audience members received a crash course in all that is devastating as well as precious about the existence of mental diversity in our world. The world of mental illness, especially in ‘civilized’ society, is in shocking disarray. This was a beautiful program that powerfully brought together people from very different views in order to initiate a largely shunned dialogue. I was hugely impressed with the execution and impact of this program and cannot wait for BAASICS 4.
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