journey to peace, a feature documentary, explores the role of the individual in creating peace in times of unrest: within ourselves, in our homes, workplaces, communities, countries, and the world. Nobel Peace Laureates who consciously chose to embace peace in the face of devastating violence reveal thier private stories and insights about initiating peaceful responses in themselves and the people around them.

Nobel Laureates participating are Aung San Suu Kyi, [His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Betty Williams. At the time they made their crucial choices, the laureates were not well known Ð one was barely out of his teens, one a secretary, another waited tables, one was a homemaker and another was an artist and teacher. Yet, the stands they took changed the world.

The documentary raises awareness of the power and the process behind peacemakers and peacemaking. Whether we are old or young, whether we lean towards activism or apathy, answering the questions that Journey to Peace explores provides an counterbalance to the constant images in the media of our worst tendencies, and shows us a vision of ourselves at our best.

While filming the award-winning documentary, Shadow Over Tibet: Stories in Exile, Journey to Peace producers Valerie Mrak and Martha Howard received an unexpected answer from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When asked what he meant by wishing Tibet be designated a Òzone of peace,Ó instead of giving a bureaucratic or structured answer, he said that what he sought was not only external manifestations of peace towards animals, people, the environment; foremost, he knew that people would need to create a zone of peace in their hearts.

That struck a chord with the producers, and after returning to the US, they began asking themselves what a Òzone of peaceÓ meant to them as individuals and to society in general. They also observed what seemed to be escalating incidences challenging the idea of peaceful resolution to conflict---school violence, road rage, workplace pressure, fractured home life, and the continual reflection in the media of our worst tendencies.

The producers came to believe that peace is a skill, something that can be learned, a choice that can be made. Seeing that there was little information about or encouragement toward such a view, they decided to produce a documentary exploring how others have chosen peaceful resolution to conflict and how we can learn to do that, too.