Art & Power: True Lives (1992)

True Lives is an animation and two short films. It is the result of a joint project realised by Portway Centre and Picture This over two years. The project involved more than 20 people from the Portway Centre and took about a year to complete. The films illustrate 7 poems written by the Rush Land Poets on the theme: "Who am I? Past, present and future." Two of the poems, Brenda Mary Cook by Brenda Cook and Stanley and Me by Mary Hearn were filmed separately by Picture This and the poets. The other five make up the animated film True Lives.

For True Lives, artists from the Portway Centre made drawings, paintings and models based on the poems, building up images and preparing for their transfer into computer animation. A group from the centre animated these images at the Picture This studios. They had the support of a group at the Centre who provided extra images and storyboarded each poem. Final editing took place at Picture This. The Rush Land Poets, artists, animators and editors are all people with learning difficulties, and their work, as represented in this film, reflects their personal memories, thoughts and wishes for the future.

Since making this work the group has changed it's name to Art & Power and relocated to new premises in St Werburghs Community Centre, Bristol .