Join Maine Public for a special screening of the award-winning documentary “Outsider,” followed up by a panel discussion and reception.

The 40-minute film addresses both the tragedy and redemption that can result from mental illness. “Outsider” follows the personal, complex story of artist Maury Ornest, whose life encompassed baseball, schizoaffective disorder, and art. After his death at age 58, his sister Laura discovered more than 1,400 paintings in every room of his home and secret storage units, a discovery which set her on an unexpected journey. “Outsider” presents a rarely seen, unvarnished view of a family’s journey with mental illness and captures the surprising ways they found connection. Directed by Ted Haimes and produced by Ted Haimes and Nicole Lucas Haimes, “Outsider” won the Audience Award for best short at the Montclair Film Festival.

The panel will include:

Cynthia Sortwell, MD, a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist, and Clinical Associate
Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University and Maine Medical Center.

Laura Ornest, who is on the Advisory Board for the UCLA Friends of the Semel Institute for
Neuroscience and Human Behavior, is a mental health advocate, and sister of Maury Ornest.

Mia Bogyo, Education Director at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland.
Cynthia Sortwell, MD, a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist, and Clinical Associate
Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University and Maine Medical Center.

Moderating the discussion will be Maine Public’s Keith Shortall.

At the reception, guests will have the opportunity to see and purchase Maury Ornest’s art and talk with the panelists. All proceeds from the sale of the art will benefit the Strand Theatre and Maine Public.