ABOUT:
Imagine living in fear… not feeling safe in your own home.  Imagine that the person you love is your greatest enemy. Yet, you blame yourself, feel shame and don't tell anyone -- not even your family.

Every 15 seconds, an abuser strikes in America. Domestic violence is the leading cause of traumatic injury to women. More women are affected by domestic abuse than breast cancer with an estimated 4 million women becoming victims every year. More than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in America every day.   

Of the women who are killed by their abusers, almost half are admitted to a hospital within two years of their homicide.  Most of those victims are treated for traumatic injuries. The signs are there. Yet, doctors, nurses, and social workers may fail to detect the abuse or intervene to save these women's lives.  Domestic violence is a public health issue – one that costs society at least $6 billion a year. It is costing lives that can be saved.  

Portrait of Abuse: An American Epidemic is a compelling and revealing story that not only raises our social awareness of the far reaching effects and cycles of domestic violence, but it digs into the psyche of both victim and the abuser.  We all play a role in recognizing the signs and speaking out to stop this tragic epidemic. 

Through interviews with actual victims and abusers, this hopeful film offers practical advice from survivors, doctors, nurses, shelter advocates, social workers and prosecutors. In time for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month - Portrait of Abuse: An American Epidemic is set for release in October of 2007.

This one hour film is produced in High Definition by AMS Production Group, whose recent projects include the award winning documentaries The Power of Harmony and Shock.

 Interviewees in this compelling documentary include mothers, daughters, and sisters who are victims and survivors; emergency medicine & OB/GYN physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, women’s shelter advocates, and the nation’s leading prosecutor who oversees programs to address violence against women.

• Cindy Dyer, Attorney – Executive Director, Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice
• Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., Psychiatrist, Author of “Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World”
• Mary Lee Hafley, CEO - Safe Haven of Tarrant County
• Margaret Christensen, M.D. OB/GYN
• Robert Cluck, M.D., Mayor of Arlington & retired OB/GYN
• Robert Gullinese, M.D. Emergency Medicine, Harris Methodist Hospital
• Hershel Brown, M.D.  Emergency Medicine, Harris Methodist Hospital
• Doug Hawthorne, CEO – Texas Health Resources
• Lisa Estrella, Hospital Domestic Violence Social Worker - Harris Methodist Hospital
• Anne Janes, RN - Emergency Medicine – Harris Methodist Hospital
• Lisa Muftic, Ph.D. University of North Texas Professor - Department of Criminal Justice
• Ashley Lind, Ph.D., Vice President of Client Services - Safe Haven of Tarrant County
• Stephanie Storey, Women’s Shelter Director