From 2004
to 2007, Ganz was an instructor at Film Arts
Foundation. Ganz is an adoption reform advocate testifying before the California House and
Senate Judiciary Committees on adult adoptee civil rights and birthmother rights. She has
been a guest on television, radio and internet talk shows. Her Letters to the
Editor have been published in newspapers nationally. "In 1969, I was in a Booth Memorial Home for
Unwed Mothers, where I was given no choice but to relinquish my newborn
daughter for adoption. I always wondered… ‘Why can’t there be
homes to help mothers keep their children?’ I looked for a
program that does this and found Center Point, Inc. I called Dr.
Sushma Taylor, their Chief Executive Officer, told her my idea and met
with the top staff. They were very responsive to my making the
film and gave their permission. I met with the women and told them
my story and asked for volunteers. Please contact us at: 415.564.3691 or
sheila@onlifesterms.org
if you or your group would like to host a fundraising screening. (c) 2012 Sheila Ganz
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About the Filmmaker
Sheila Ganz completed the documentary
Unlocking the Heart of Adoption in
2003. This 56 minute film bridges the gap between birth and adoptive families
through
diverse personal stories of adoptees, birthparents and adoptive
parents in both same race and transracial adoptions who reveal their innermost feelings,
fears and joys, and the complexities of the adoption experience. Transracial
adoptions, issues of closed records, historical perspective and the personal story of the
filmmaker, who was raped at age 20 and unwillingly relinquished her child,
make this film the most comprehensive to date. She searched for and
found her daughter.
Throughout the film as Ganz tells her story she creates a sculpture
using chicken wire, bamboo, burlap and plaster to commemorate the
10 minutes she was allowed to hold her newborn daughter.
Ganz does trainings for adoption agencies and conferences. Adoption agencies,
libraries, colleges and universities worldwide use the film as an
educational tool. Ganz wrote a 15 page Workbook with Discussion
Guide and 50 page three hour curriculum for the film on the issues of loss and identity with the Child
Welfare Institute.
In 2005, the film was launched on public television by
the National Educational Telecommunications Association. Ganz is a
recipient of the Congressional
Coalition for Adoption Angels in Adoption Award. For more info about
the film visit: http://www.unlockingtheheart.com
Ganz wrote
two full-length stage plays,
Pretend It
Didnt Happen about her experience as a birthmother and
Leaving Joe about domestic violence. Her site-specific sculptures have been exhibited at the Moscone Center, Golden Gate Park and Bernal Heights in San Francisco, the Paul F. Romberg
Center in Tiburon and was commissioned to make a site-specific work for Shenandoah
Vineyards in Plymouth, CA. She has taught sculpture at San Francisco
State University, and sculpture and hand bookmaking at The Art School, San
Francisco, CA.
Sheila's artwork page 1
Sheila's artwork page 2
Sheila's artwork page 3
Ganz attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston, MA and completed her studies at San Francisco State University, earning a BA in
Sculpture and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts. Ganz is a martial
artist and earned
her Black Belt in Karate at Karate Do in San Francisco.
Ganz's experiences have led to her own self-healing and deep commitment to
contribute to the empowerment of others.
Here is what she
has to say about making On Life's Terms:
Mothers in Recovery:
Losing my
daughter to adoption was nearly devastating. My art saved me. The
unacknowledged devastation for a mother who loses custody of her child
and is suffering from addiction can lead to a downward spiral. It
is my hope that
On Life's Terms will inspire women to seek help
and that policy makers will see the value of family-centered gender
specific programs and fund more of these treatment programs."