Director’s labor of love gets help from Newman’s Own

Through their first film, “Cody: The First Step,” which aired in 2008, Schueler was able to tell Unser’s story to a national audience, including how the then-college senior adapted to living with a disability.

	Online To find out more about “Healing Waters,” visit www.codysfirststep.org or www.christopherproductions.org

Now the filmmaker is back with “Healing Waters,” which takes a look at how Unser’s program helps disabled veterans through scuba diving – or Adaptive Scuba Diving Medical Pilot Study.

“It’s been an adventure to be involved with the project,” Schueler says. “What’s amazing is that we’ve been able to open some minds to this subject.”

With the film now in post-production, Schueler says the project got a $25,000 donation from Newman’s Own Foundation, which was created by the late actor and philanthropist Paul Newman.

“It was a dream of our founder, Cody Unser, to share the results of the first conventional SCUBA-Medical Pilot Study,” says Shelly Unser, president of Unser’s foundation. “Filmed and documented, the weeklong study on the neurological and psychological effects of scuba on paralysis will become Cody’s next documentary.”

The donation from Newman’s Own Foundation will go towards the post-production process.

Schueler says unlike making a feature film, a documentary requires that the script be written after the filming process.

Film crews work with disabled military veterans learning to scuba dive in the Cayman Islands. The footage is part of the documentary, “Healing Waters,” which is focused on a program that helps disabled veterans through scuba diving.

“We should have the script done in a couple weeks,” he explains. “Then we will edit down the nearly 40 hours of footage that we have.”

During the project, Schueler and crew flew to the Cayman Islands to shoot footage of the military personnel competing in the pilot program.

Schueler, who also is a scuba diver, says what he witnessed was amazing.

“These troops adapted to the water very well,” he says. “Of course, they were taught the basics of scuba diving. But it was a great opportunity to showcase the amazing effect of scuba diving on these veterans with paralysis. The images are both beautiful and riveting.”

The medical research team – lead by Dr. Adam Kaplin, psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School and Dr. Daniel Becker, neurologist at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore – discover amazing results from the experience, results that could forever change the way paralysis is treated and the way those in wheelchairs live their lives.

“We saw dramatic changes in a matter of days in a number of people with spinal cord injury who went scuba diving,” Becker says. “This is just a pilot study, but to see such a restoration of neurological function and significant improvement in PTSD symptoms over such a short period of time was unprecedented.”

Kaplin says what they found in the study strongly suggests there is some scuba-facilitated restoration of neurological and psychological function of paraplegics.

“It’s very promising and pro-active,” he says.

Schueler’s Albuquerque-based company, Christopher’s Productions, will be doing all of the post-production work.

While the $25,000 donation will help, Schueler says it only covers a portion of what is needed for post production.

Albuquerque filmmaker Chris Schueler is currently in post-production for “Healing Waters.”

“We will continue to look for more funding,” he says. “But this is the kind of project that you will work to get done no matter the price. If we don’t raise the money, I think we will be digging into our own finances to get it done. It’s just become a labor of love and an important thing to me.”

In addition to the documentaries, Schueler has created more than 100 TV programs in the past 20 years and has won 21 Emmy Awards.

He has focused on educational and social issues with his films and has worked with the United Nations and PBS on projects.

In addition to being CEO of Christopher Productions, Schueler is the executive director of SafeTeen New Mexico, a nonprofit organization that helps youth make healthy decisions through live school assemblies. It distributes a wide variety of videos and curricula covering teen health issues. SafeTeen, www.safeteen.net, was recently named one of the six best community outreach projects in the nation at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

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