"Beautiful Minds: Using Animation to Heal" is a film screening and discussion on living with bipolar disorder. The event will be Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. in Room 131 of Building 12 at Executive Park at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads.

The evening includes a screening of the animated film “Oh Me2: A case of BiPolar disOrder,” by animator Jonathan Amitay, who lives with bipolar disorder.

"We chose this film because of the creative way it shared the filmmaker's experience," says Debbie Costello, president of the Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research. "After the showing, an artist who creates comic books and paints will be available to describe her reaction to the film and discuss her own experiences with being an artist and having bipolar disorder."

Costello explains, "Stigma reduction occurs whenever there is an open conversation about something that exists mostly in the dark, such as mental illness. We hope to combine information with discourse. By inviting a person who has to manage their bipolar disorder while achieving their own life goals, people relate to someone who faces the same challenges they do, and often learn from them; and we are recognizing that, even though you have a disease, you are not your disease."

The Costello fund is sponsoring the event with the Emory University Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. Light refreshments will be served.