KINGSTON, R.I. – Oct. 16, 2024 – The University of Rhode Island Harrington School of Communication and Media will host the world premiere screening of the feature documentary “Best Judgment: Ladd School Lessons” – the work of former URI adjunct professor and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Jim Wolpaw – on Wednesday, Oct. 23. 

Started as a URI class project more than 15 years ago, “Best Judgment” examines the history of the Joseph Ladd Center, Rhode Island’s former institution for people judged to have developmental and intellectual disabilities. Known as the Ladd School, the state institution in Exeter operated from 1908 to 1993.

The screening will start at 6:30 p.m. in Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road, Kingston. A panel discussion with filmmakers, former Ladd residents, and experts in the field of disabilities will follow the screening. 

Wolpaw taught a URI course in documentary pre-production in 2008, and a group of students thoroughly researched the Ladd School’s history for a trailer that summarized the story. The project was eventually taken over by Advocates in Action RI, a statewide self-advocacy organization founded by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

“The reason I wanted to continue the class project was that I knew there was a good film in there,” said Wolpaw. “After having met Advocates in Action, I realized the substance was in their participation in the film.

“The film is about the problem with being different, and what people have to negotiate in rising to the challenge of being different,” he added. “The story of the Ladd institution was a situation where people were penalized for being different.”

The Ladd Center story unfolds against a backdrop of unique filmmaking in which a film crew that included former Ladd residents and other people with disabilities worked with several media professionals to produce an “out of the box” exploration of the dark history of the institution. The film is dedicated to the more than 4,000 women, men, and children who lived at the Ladd Center.

“The idea of making this film was that people with disabilities would have a substantial role in making the film,” Wolpaw said. “Most of the interviews were conducted by people who have disabilities, and much of the film was shot by people who have disabilities.”

Faculty who have been involved in the project include professor Michelle LeBrun, a producer and technical instructor; professor Mary Healey Jamiel, broadcast line producer and advisor; Tim Tierney, advisor; and Jeffrey Fountain, broadcast director. The final shots of the documentary were filmed at the URI Broadcast Center with students from the film media department at the Harrington School.

Wolpaw, who taught film production classes at URI between 1999 and 2011, was nominated for an Academy Award for his short documentary film “Keats and His Nightingale: A Blind Date” in 1985.

The panel following the screening will include: Wolpaw; co-director Robert Macaux; Andrew Whalen, a peer resources specialist with Advocates in Action who narrates the film; Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame member Mark Cutler, who created the film’s musical score with former Ladd resident Jimmy Isom; Maggie Sebastian, a former Ladd resident who had a long career supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities for the South Kingstown school system; Joanne Eichinger, a professor of special education for 30 years; Tony Antosh, an institutional attendant at Ladd in the early 1970s who was involved in the class action suit that resulted in the center’s closing; and Kevin Savage, the state director of developmental disabilities. The panel will be moderated by Jamiel.