MOTHER NATURE'S CHILD

MOTHER NATURE’S CHILD (USA, 2011, 57 min.)

World Premiere Nature’s powerful role in children’s health and development is explored through the experience of toddlers, children in middle childhood and adolescents, from Vermont to Washington, D.C. The film marks a moment in time when a living generation can still recall childhoods of free play outdoors; this will not be true for most children growing up today. The effects of “nature deficit disorder” are now being noted across the country in epidemics of child obesity, attention disorders and depression. Mother Nature’s Child asks the questions: Why do children need unstructured time outside? What is the place of risk-taking in healthy child development? How is play a form of learning? How can city kids connect with nature? What does it mean to educate the ‘whole’ child? Directed by Camilla Rockwell. Produced by Camilla Rockwell and Wendy Conquest.

Discussion with Mary Hardcastle, award-winning filmmaker and children-in-nature advocate, as well as Ali Smith, Atman Smith and Andy Gonzales, who all star in the film, follows screening.

Ticket/Reservation Info:

FREE. Open to the public. Reservations required for school groups; please email maribel@envirofilmfest.org.

Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus (THEARC), 1901 Mississippi Ave., SE
(Metro: Southern Avenue. Green line)
(Metrobuses: W2, W3, 94, A2, 32)