Fountain Valley News - Your Hometown Community Newspaper

By G. Connor Salter

When Tom Shepard started Youth Documentary Academy in 2013, he was hoping to get young people making documentaries showing their views on difficult issues. To his surprise, something else happened along the way.

"One thing that is quite common is that these young people are taking on an issue that was previously taboo or shameful or hard to talk about," Shepard explained. "By making a film, there's something that happens in that process. I don't know what it is, but it's almost like they are able to create some distance by bringing journalism to it or interviewing people...