Turnaround Arts: California is often asked, “what does your work look like in action at a school?” This 30-second ad endeavors to answer that question. Our work can be challenging to describe in a simple way. That’s why we are tremendously grateful to NBCUniversal and Digital Bodega for bringing the story of 3rd-grade student Noah and his teacher Ms. West to life. A Place for All tells the story of how, with the support of Turnaround Arts: California, Ms. West used the arts to help Noah overcome the challenges he was experiencing with math.

Over the past year, Turnaround Arts: California has had the exciting opportunity to participate in NBCUniversal’s Creative Impact Lab. Through this program, we planned and produced this 30-second TV ad in collaboration with the talented team at Digital Bodega, a social impact-focused creative agency.

The Creative Impact Lab program pairs young people interested in going into filmmaking and media, with a creative agency and NBCUniversal executives for mentorship throughout the process. We had the immense pleasure of working with Guillermo Mora, Kennedy Hocker, and Kaile Bravo, all recent college grads and alumni of Ghetto Film School. With the support of Digital Bodega, Guillermo, Kennedy, and Kaile developed a script, inspired by Kennedy’s personal experience with her teacher. Lisa Moxley, Nick Bockanic, and Eric Carr, all executives at NBCUniversal, provided valuable mentorship and thought partnership.

Featured in this video is our longtime partner school McKinley Elementary in Compton, CA, and their talented students. Special thanks to Ms. Spears, Mr. Griffin, Ms. Taylor, and Ms. Ball for making the video shoot possible!