Embraced is a feature-length documentary film bringing the truth about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) to the world. Thousands of hours of research, interviews, and development have already been donated by passionate professionals inspired by the project’s potential.
We are now seeking donations, sponsors, and celebrities to champion this important cause.
The documentary weaves together honest interviews, surprising data, and a scripted narrative inspired by true case studies. Beyond the film, our goal is to create supplemental educational materials to better educate families, teachers, law enforcement, and health providers about this under-the-radar epidemic.
The title, Embraced, is inspired by the way Director and Co-Producer Joel Sheagren embraces his son Sam’s FASD, and for the countless others who face serious lifelong challenges. Those with FASD have never had advocacy like we’re providing through this project.
Four Unique Objectives to Embraced using the acronym C.A.R.E.
Compassion: Viewers will shift their paradigm and appreciate the daily challenges individuals experience depicted through raw scripted stories focused on the family, classroom, and criminal justice.
Awareness: People will comprehend how FASD affects every aspect of our community. No national awareness or feature-length documentary about FASD has been done since its discovery nearly 50 years ago.
Recognition: Have 5% of the population in the U.S. and Canada between ages 20 and 50 watch the film to create a tipping point of understanding.
Education: Individuals and families affected by an FASD will be better supported by up-to-date and relevant ongoing educational, advocacy, and training tools.
FASD Affects Our Entire Community
Our stakeholders are individuals, parents, social workers, nonprofits, therapists, psychologists, teachers, lawyers, judges, government officials and medical doctors.
Scope of the Problem
FASD is the world’s #1 Developmental Disability. It is 300% more prevalent than Autism, but receives almost no recognition since it was first discovered in 1972.
According to the research conducted in 2018 by Dr. Philip May, 1 in 20 children are on the spectrum of this disorder. And 85.6% are misdiagnosed as ADHD, Autism, Depression, Anxiety, Learning Disorder, Bipolar Disorder or other mental health related diagnoses, sometimes leading to sometimes harmful treatments according to Dr. Ira Chasnoff’s research.
It is estimated that over 25% of prison populations—both men and women, are on the spectrum of FASD. This results in professionals approaching the individuals with ineffective behavioral therapy, medications, and punishment rather than with developmental brain-based strategies.
Many individuals with an FASD lack the social skills/are more times than not, socially half their chronological age and vulnerable to be preyed upon in countless ways, including falling victim to human trafficking.
Embraced has conducted interviews with over fifty persons involved in FASD and a theme of responses evolved: It affects everyone in our community! It is a major tax burden on society. Very few people seems to be aware of FASD at ANY level—public or professionally. “Schools having no idea how to help our children.” “My son would not be in jail if the judge understood his hidden brain injury.” “My child would not have died.”
The federal Individualized Education Plan (IEP), which allows for educational accommodations due to disabilities, does not recognize FASD as a disability.
According to Dr. Kennth Jones, “Virtually no national awareness has been conducted for FASD since its discovery over 40 years ago”.
FASD can be prevented!
Who We Are
Hope & Rescue Foundation (HRF), the fiduciary sponsor of Embraced, is a non-profit organization under Section 501(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. HRF’s production arm is, Sam In A Can [Productions] (SIAC). SIAC has 30 years of experience producing millions of dollars of advertising campaigns for companies like Red Wing Shoes, Skidoo, and Marvin Windows. In 2015, SIAC produced a documentary that ran on the Hulu network, and the combined team experience has produced over 20 films that have run on multiple networks.
THE EMBRACED TEAM
Director/Co-Producer: Joel W Sheagren
Joel, originally from Iowa, has been a Minnesotan for over 30 years. He is a veteran director, producer, and director of photography, who consistently has achieved award-winning visual stories across the globe, including a CLIO for a public service announcement titled, Shadowhands. He has served the advertising industry worldwide as the “go to” for his creative visuals, resourcefulness, expertise as a problem solver, and delivering superior production solutions since 1978. His current film CRACKED ICE just finished running on the Hulu network and is currently running on overseas networks.
Joel is the father of a son child with FASD. Embraced will help us all understand the truth about FASD — the risk to a child being born with a life-long brain injury because of prenatal alcohol exposure, how to better identify FASD very early in a child, and how to better understand and manage those with FASD. Embraced is the most exciting project he has been involved with because of the potential catalyst for starting a meaningful national conversation concerning FASD, the number one birth defect in the Western Hemisphere that few know anything about.
Parent Consultant/Co-Producer: Jodee Kulp
Jodee has lived her entire life in Minnesota. Few pioneers must not only pave the path for others to follow...but also must define the landscape to illustrate its existence. Jodee has written and published more books about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders than any other parent advocate in our time. Her work has assisted thousands of families and individuals living with FASDs. She has opened an understanding for professionals to help parents and their children. Jodee’s expertise and experience are surpassed only by her creative insight in presenting complicated information uniquely and entertainingly.
Jodee is the illustrator, author, co-author, or contributor of twelve books and curricula supporting understanding, healthy and creative approaches to living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). She is an international and national speaker, trainer, and advocate to help families and professionals balance the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual needs of a person with this disability to allow for healthy community living. Jodee and Karl are the parents of Liz Kulp who is also an award-winning author.
Her work through Better Endings New Beginnings, a social initiative, sets the standard for others to follow in creating a place of safety in the community for persons with fetal alcohol brain injury. She is the co-founder of the International Red Shoes Rock, FASD Aware Alliance, developer of the Expanding Mindz with Canines Program, and an early childhood Tinkergarten leader to provide hope for children, teens, and adults.
FASD Research Consultant: Dr. Wozniak. Dr. Wozniak is a Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Minnesota who conducts research on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). He uses advanced neuroimaging tools and neuropsychology to understand the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing brain. Dr. Wozniak also conducts clinical trials of new treatments for the brain in FASD, including a single-nutrient intervention for preschoolers and brain stimulation combined with cognitive training for school-age individuals with FASD.
Senior Advisor for Strategy & Engagement: Lucas Daniel Boyce
Lucas currently serves as the Assistant to the County Administrator for Orange County Florida Government. He advises the County Administrator and provides administrative, analytical, technical support, and participates in various programs and operational initiatives that have a county-wide impact. Lucas participates in the strategic planning process to establish future direction for Orange County. Additional initiatives provide Lucas with the opportunity to be an advisor to the Financial Aid Network, LLC and the Global Institute of College Planning.
Some of the industries and organizations Lucas’ clients come from include: Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges and Universities, Faith-Based Organizations, Think Tanks, Public Policy Organizations, Corporations, and organizations advocating for Foster Care Youth and Adoption Awareness.
Lucas was appointed to a number of different roles focused on philanthropy, diversity and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility with the Orlando Magic from 2008-2016. He served as the Director of Business Development, Community Relations, Multicultural Insights, Cause Marketing, and Government Affairs. Prior to the Orlando Magic, Lucas served at the White House in a number of different positions where he managed a wide-ranging portfolio of responsibilities that included proactive communication, public relations, and education outreach among diverse communities, constituencies, and issues on behalf of the President.
Lucas is the author of Living Proof: From Foster Care to the White House and the NBA, published in January 2011. With over twenty years of professional speaking experience, he travels across the country giving speeches focused on servant leadership, teamwork, overcoming obstacles, and making a positive impact in the lives of others. Lucas received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Speech Communication from the University of Central Missouri in July 2003. He earned his Masters’ Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Rollins College in May 2013.
Producer: Justen Overlander
With a background in education and filmmaking, Justen brings a unique skillset to Embraced. He pays close attention to the educational content while emphasizing engaging and creative presentation methods.
Most recently a producer on the first two seasons of The Chosen, he is passionate in connecting to people and telling their unique stories as evidenced by two Chosen documentaries he spearheaded: Journey to the Sermon on the Mount and Meghan Connors, Called By Name.
Justen has volunteered for a number of noble causes including Hope and Rescue, Zoe International, and Compassion International.
Neuropsychologist Consultant/Co-Producer: Jerome Schultz, Ph.D. Jerome Schultz, Ph.D. is a Clinical Neuropsychologist, on the faculty at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry. He received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from The Ohio State University and holds a Ph.D. from Boston College. He has completed postdoctoral fellowships in both clinical psychology and pediatric neuropsychology.
For nearly four decades, Dr. Schultz specialized in the neuropsychological assessment and treatment of children and young adults with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other special needs. He has served as a faculty member at Lesley University, Boston College, and Wright State University in Ohio. He was the founding director of the Learning Lab, a diagnostic clinic at Lesley, and served for several years at Cambridge Health Alliance as the Co-Director of the Center for Child and Adolescent Development.
Dr. Schultz currently serves as an international consultant on issues related to the neuropsychology and education of children and young adults with special needs. He is a content expert at www.Understood.org and at ADDitudemag.com, where he presents webinars and writes articles, many of which are about stress and anxiety. His book, called Nowhere to Hide: Why Kids with ADHD and LD Hate School and What We Can Do About It, examines the role of stress in learning, and has served as a practical guide for families and schools across the globe.
Writer/Co-Producer: Beth Pacunas
Beth is a world-traveled, award-winning filmmaker whose work has been featured on History Channel, Travel Channel, OWN, PBS, Nightly News and NBC’s Today Show.
Her work traverses journalism, documentary, narrative, and experimental, and her self-funded film Fluid Movement was created purely out of love for her dying mother. She recently teamed with Embraced founder Joel Sheagren on Cracked Ice, a documentary about a young man who finds redemption while racing cars on frozen Minnesota lakes.
Beth is a distinguished alumna of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women in Los Angeles and a member of the Alliance of Women Directors. She has been an active member of her community as an on-call Sexual Assault Counselor, a mentor with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Minnesota, and a trained American Red Cross Disaster Relief Volunteer.
Producer: Richard (Sven) Shelgren
Sven was born and raised in California. He is a successful producer of film, television, and advertising, overseeing multi-million dollar budgets and award winning productions around the world, he brings a monumental cache of industry and living experience to bear on all his projects, with honesty, integrity, and the highest production values. His first feature film, A Single Woman premiered in the U.S. Congress, screening at the Smithsonian and the United Nations, and won the highest award from the National Women’s Political Caucus. The short My Husband’s Son, won Best Actress Festival du Cinema dé Paris. His latest romantic comedy feature, titled Vikes, was released this summer. In all his projects, Sven shows an uncanny ability to generate original, inspired, and successful productions
Editor: Jeff Stickels
Jeff, originally from New Jersey, has been living in Minnesota for most of his adult life. He is an award-winning Minneapolis video and film editor with more 30 years of experience. Working in close collaboration with leading directors, creative talent, production companies, and agencies. Jeff has had opportunities to create compelling stories across a variety of mediums. He thoughtfully crafts authentic stories that leave a lasting impression. Jeff was the editor for CRACKED ICE.
Pubic Health Advisor: Cedrick Terrell.
Cedrick is a visionary community health program coordinator in Los Angeles, California. He has hands-on experience counseling individuals with FASD and oversees the success of the program’s development, Quality Improvement measures, implementation, and operational growth. While living in New York, his job experience included Hepatitis C Program Coordinator for New York City Department of Health and Patient Navigator for The Institute of Family Health. He is currently enrolled at Columbia University for a Doctorate degree in Public Health Policy. Before and during his public health roles, Cedrick has been active as an actor in Hollywood, London, and New York.
Cause Marketing Advisor: Risa Jewell
Risa is a Cause Marketing and Corporate Philanthropy professional connecting social causes with corporate interests for the purpose of good. She brings a deep knowledge of a diverse set of social causes for underserved populations with a specialty in children’s issues. Highlighted among her career accomplishments are a corporate philanthropy program that delivered over 3 million meals to children in at-risk communities, and a corporate cause sponsorship for the Make-A-Wish Foundation that granted over 10,000 wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Within the Entertainment Industry, she has the unique distinction of implementing the largest cause marketing program to date for Discover Card and the award-winning animated children’s film Annabelle’s Wish; in addition to managing the cause marketing relationship between General Motors and the Women In Film organization, supporting mentorship and film finishing initiatives.
Nonprofit Sponsor: Hope & Rescue Foundation
When making a donation to Embraced, you will receive tax exempt notice from Hope & Rescue Foundation (HRF), a federally (U.S.) recognized 501c3 nonprofit. The mission of HRF is to address awareness and education of issues that that drive human trafficking. FASD is conservatively reported to be between 2 to 5% of the US population and comprises 50% of the prison populations for both men and women. FASD contributes to the issue of human trafficking because people with FASD commonly have high vulnerabilities and struggle with understanding how their actions are connected to consequences. With these reported high numbers and issues, the board of HRF decided Embraced was a very worth while project to sponsor. Production is being managed by Sam In A Can [Productions] on behalf of HRF.