KPJR Films presents free screenings of “Paper Tigers” – an intimate look into the lives of selected students at Lincoln High School, an alternative school that specializes in educating traumatized youth. Set amidst the struggling rural community of Walla Walla, WA, the film intimately examines the inspiring promise of Trauma Informed Communities – a movement that is showing great promise in healing youth struggling with the dark legacy of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).

Director Jamie Redford will be attending the event and will participate in a Q&A after the screenings!

There will be two showings on Friday, September 4, at 5:00 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Free tickets are sold out for both show times, however, some additional seats may be released at the door.

TRAILER: Paper Tigers from KPJR FILMS LLC on Vimeo.

“Paper Tigers” follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affect families.

“Stressed brains can’t learn.”

That was the nugget of neuroscience that Jim Sporleder, principal of a high school riddled with violence, drugs and truancy, took away from an educational conference in 2010. Three years later, the number of fights at Lincoln Alternative High School had gone down by 75% and  the graduation rate had increased five–fold.

“Paper Tigers” is the story of how one school made such dramatic progress. Following six students over the course of a school year, we see Lincoln’s staff try a new approach to discipline: one based on understanding and treatment rather than judgment and suspension. Using a combination of verite and revealing diary cam footage, “Paper Tigers” is a testament to what the latest developmental science is showing: that just one caring adult can help break the cycle of adversity in a young person’s life.