A powerful documentary that touches on numerous subjects – medical, biographical, religious and LGBT – this is highly recommended.

- Video Librarian

About the Film

Winner of multiple audience awards, States of Grace intimately captures the profound transformation of a revered physician and her family in the wake of a life-changing accident. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the film “brave [and] refreshingly unsentimental” and audiences across the country have been moved by this inspiring story of perseverance and resilience.

Dr. Grace Dammann was a prominent HIV/AIDS physician who was honored by the Dalai Lama for her extraordinary work during the height of the epidemic.  In 2008, a routine commute across the Golden Gate Bridge turned tragic for Grace when another driver crashed head on into her car. Though she miraculously survived, she spent more than a year in rehabilitation hospitals. 

States of Grace follows her return home to the Buddhist community where she lives with her partner Nancy “Fu” Schroeder and their daughter Sabrina. With humor and candor, the film intimately captures their story as Grace struggles to discover new purpose in her radically altered life.

'States of Grace' has clear applicability in medical education for teaching about caregiving, disability, doctor-as-patient, family dynamics, and rehabilitation. It would be of interest to medical students, trainees, and professionals, as well as scholars in all areas of medical humanities.

— Katie Grogan, 
Associate Director,
Master Scholars Program
in Humanistic Medicine,
NYU School of Medicine

The medical, clinical, ethical, social, and legal issues raised by the film are tremendous, especially for their teaching and learning capacity.  At UNLV, we screened this film for our community's medical students, law students, local physicians, practicing attorneys, and other health professionals and it was a huge success!

— Stacey A. Tovino, JD, PhD
Lehman Professor of Law
Director, Health Law Program
William S. Boyd School of Law
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

An amazing film that poetically captures the many layers of triumph and struggle experienced by both patients and caregivers. Remarkable in its honesty, surprising in its humor, and gripping in its ability to take viewers to unexpected places.

— Robert B. Saper, MD MPH
Director of Integrative Medicine,
Boston Medical Center
Department of Family Medicine,
Associate Professor,
Boston University School of Medicine

States of Grace is a labor of love that emerged from a desire to witness and document a dear friend’s remarkable journey following a devastating, life-altering event.

Film subject Dr. Grace Dammann and filmmakers Helen S. Cohen and Mark Lipman have presented the film and spoken at dozens of educational institutions, hospitals, rehab centers, Zen centers and film festivals around of the country. When Grace and the filmmakers are present for events, the room lights up!

Click the button bellow to learn more about booking Grace and/or the filmmakers for your next conference, community screening, or professional event.

DIRECTORS' STATEMENT
MESSAGE FROM GRACE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE