“Enlightening without being didactic, this sterling production from filmmaker Debra Chasnoff is an excellent resource to get kids talking about cultural diversity and family life.”
Booklist
American Library Association
Starred Review. "Highly recommended. “This top-notch production aimed at elementary and middle school—aged kids may go a long way toward assuaging children’s fears of being ‘different,’ while also—hopefully—encouraging tolerance in general. …a program like this is more than just long overdue. It’s vital."
Video Librarian
“That’s a Family!…is an excellent film aimed at schoolchildren…Given the importance of family for individuals, communities, and the greater society at large, Debra Chasnoff’s film makes a great learning tool for class discussions on the family.”
The Education Digest
“The film…is extremely moving and powerful. It has colorful and eye-catching visual effects, but in no way do they detract from the focus on the children and their stories. I would highly recommend this film not only for schools and public libraries, but for adults as well.”
Selina Wang
Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans
MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship ”Entertaining and fast-paced, That’s a Family! is also honest and instructive, explaining difficult, often-confusing terms such as lesbian, mixed-race and adoption, and stressing that love and support—not blood or skin color—hold families together.”
Nicole Seymour
LA Parent Endorsements
“Every parent, educator and policymaker should be concerned about school violence. By reflecting the true diversity of American families, That’s a Family! breaks down intolerance and promotes true understanding—a first step toward making our school safe for all children.”
US Senator Barbara Boxer
“That’s a Family! is an extraordinary film that teaches a poignant lesson about love and family.”
Robin Williams, actor
“Recognizing diversity as a promise and not a threat, That’s a Family! helps children to feel understood and appreciated instead of condemned because of their family.”
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director
Interfaith Alliance
“That’s a Family! is a superb video production. It provides a wealth of material that can produce hours of productive conversation about the many ways in which people become families. The use of children speaking in their own voices about their experience of family is especially successful. I heartily recommend this video.”
Don-David Lusterman, PhD, fellow
Academy of Family Psychology
“Families encompass both traditional and nontraditional structures, and include a broad range of ethnicities. This film will help children recognize that, while families may look different from one another, their ultimate goal—to love and support their children—is universal.”
California State Senator Dede Alpert
Senate Education Committee
“It is delightful to see that someone is able to give a realistic portrayal of the changing face of the American family. With the honesty and sincerity of the children’s voices, That’s a Family! shows how we are all different, but that the true definition of family is one in which there is love.”
Evelyn K. Moore, president
National Black Child Development Institute
“That’s a Family! should be aired and discussed in every school across the country. Its message of inclusion and respect for all is both timely and universal.”
Ellen Hofheimer Bettmann
author, Hate Hurts
“That’s a Family! is wonderful and a must for every elementary school classroom. These children’s insights about their families must be heard by all parents, teachers, counselors and others who are committed to helping our nation’s children understand and celebrate difference and diversity.”
Michele Harway, PhD, former president
American Psychological Association, Division of Family Psychology
“I see a lot of programs from around the world voiced by kids, and few are as genuine, without the fingerprint of an adult dictating the child’s words or feelings. That’s a Family! promises to be an extremely beneficial tool for teachers and parents.”
David Kleeman, executive director
American Center for Children’s Media
“That’s a Family! is a refreshing look at diversity among American families and the kids who grow up in them. The children’s voices are compelling. They are unanimous about what is essential—that their caregivers love, nurture and guide them. They eloquently debunk stereotypes about children from nontraditional homes. That’s a Family! should be shown widely across America.”
Alvin F. Poussaint, MD
co-author, Lay My Burden Down
Professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
“That’s a Family! is a wonderful new film that will help children talk about their own families and have a richer understanding of others. The film demonstrates that families are different from each other in many ways, and that diversity is the rule rather than the exception.”
Jane Smith president and CEO
National Council of Negro Women
“Children are an overlooked resource in the adult definition-of-family discussion…and that’s unfortunate. The children in That’s a Family! do not have preconceived notions or limited vision. They speak powerfully, persuasively and without a doubt about many different kinds of loving, happy, strong and successful families. What a concept!”
Dr. Margorie Engel, PhD, president
Stepfamily Association of America
“The National Partnership for Women and Families applauds That’s a Family! for its innovative approach to acknowledging the diversity of today’s families. What children have to say about their own families and society’s reactions to them is delightful, sometimes poignant. The video will be a valuable conversation starter, both for young students and for adults—a nonthreatening look at some hard topics.”
Judith L. Lichtman, president
National Partnership for Women and Families
“Through the poignancy of the children’s own words, That’s a Family! validates the family as any unit whose members love and care for one another. The film shows that grandparents and other relatives can provide loving homes for children, and underscores the need for dialogue and exchange across the generations.”
Donna M. Butts, executive director
Generations United
“That’s a Family! introduces us to families across a wide spectrum of American live who face very different circumstances but a similar need for love and respect. It will be invaluable for educators and youth-advocacy workers as they seek to understand the changing nature of American families. Congratulations on another film that broadens our understanding of issues facing children and their families today.”
Kathleen Weiler, PhD, assoc. professor of education
Tufts University Awards CINE Golden Eagle Master Series Award, Non-Broadcast Films First Place, National Council on Family Relations Media Awards
Best Documentary, San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Audience Award, Best Short Film, Barcelona Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Best Short Documentary, Santa Clarita International Film Festival
Best Short Documentary, Burbank International Children's Film Festival
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About Debra Chasnoff |
 Debra Chasnoff is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has fueled progressive social-change movements in many fields. She is a the executive director at GroundSpark, formerly Women's Educational Media, and co-creator of The Respect for All Project, a program that produces media and training resources to help prevent prejudice among young people.
Her Respect for All films include: Let's Get Real (2003; director/producer), a powerful documentary about young teens' experiences with name-calling and bullying in which youth speak up about racial tensions, anti-gay taunting, sexual harassment and much more; That's a Family! (2000; director/producer), which looks at family diversity from a kids' perspective, and was screened at the (Clinton!) White House and been embraced by scores of national children's advocacy, education and civil-rights organizations; and It's Elementary - Talking About Gay Issues in School (1996; director/producer), which was hailed as "a model of intelligent directing" by International Documentary and has served as a catalyst for schools all over the world to become more proactive in addressing anti-gay prejudice in the classroom.
In 2007, Chasnoff directed It's STILL Elementary, a retrospective look at why It's Elementary was originally produced, the response it drew from the conservative right, and the impact the film has had on the national safe schools movement and some of the original students who appeared in the film.
Chasnoff's other film credits include the Oscar-winning Deadly DeceptionGeneral Electric, Nuclear Weapons & Our Environment (1991; director/producer), a crucial component of a successful international grassroots campaign to pressure GE out of the nuclear-weapons industry; Homes & Hands - Community Land Trusts in Action (1998; co-director), which is used extensively to inspire local communities to explore new models of creating permanently affordable housing; Wired for What? (1999; director/producer), part of the PBS series Digital Divide about the push to computerize education; Choosing Children (1984; director/producer), which explored the once seemingly impossible idea that lesbians and gay men could become parents; One Wedding and a Revolution (2004:Director/Co-producer), captures the frantic days leading up to the bold political decision of San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to start issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Chasnoff serves on the national advisory board for Frameline, the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and Jewish Voices for Peace. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and lives in San Francisco with her two school-age children, who have been the inspiration for many of her films.
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