Sacramento Film and Music Festival 2008

WILLIAM BRONSTON, M.D. Born and educated in Los Angeles, California, William Bronston received his Medical Degree at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. While still a medical school senior, Bronston founded the Student Health Organization in 1964, a nationwide graduate health science student movement dedicated to promoting universal health care as a human right. Deeply concerned about the plight of children with mental retardation and other disabilities, Bronston spent 3 years as a staff physician in the infamous Willowbrook State School in Staten Island. Bronston returned to California in 1975, where he served for 28 years in senior State positions, retiring as Medical Director to the State Department of Rehabilitation. Bronston created and administered "Project Interdependence" from 1991-94, a multi-state grant of national significance to promote youth leadership development among multicultural youth with and without disabilities from his non profit foundation, the World Interdependence Fund. In 1995, Bronston founded his current venture, The Tower of Youth, a model telecommunications, media and performing arts youth career and leadership project. The unique regional Sacramento valley and Sierra foothill all teenage organization has gathered over 1200 youth each of the 12 years of its operation, and produces two annual, all-youth media festivals in state of the art digital graphic movie making - The Teen Digital Reel Showcase and Awards, and in video and film production, The North American All Youth Film and Education Day, held in Sacramento. In 2003 the Governor signed legislation Bronston authored, The Digital Arts Studio Partnership Act into law establishing statewide policy support for after school training and workforce development in media arts for teen youth. This led to the establishment of the regional Sacramento Sierra Digital Arts Studio Partnership and five other state-wide California DASP non profit organizations and Boards which Bronston coordinates pending agreements in 2008 with the Governor of the State of California who will become the official program “host” with his signature of new legislation, AB 2471.