Now, I can't help but feel inferior. When I'm out in public in Afghanistan, I feel inferior because I'm doing everything I can to stay hidden, silent. I feel inferior because I am seeing firsthand the impact of America's foreign policy and can't help but feel like a living, breathing representation of that - despite my own personal views about that policy. It reinforces to me that I want to be part of the solution - and I want my work to be part of the solution - not part of the problem.

I believe we all need to be aware of the biases we have. I am aware of mine; I am a white woman who grew up in a middle-class American family with a mom and a dad who were both educators. I can't make it different - I wouldn't want to - and I don't want to pretend to be something I'm not.

Now, I can't help but feel inferior. When I'm out in public in Afghanistan, I feel inferior because I'm doing everything I can to stay hidden, silent. I feel inferior because I am seeing firsthand the impact of America's foreign policy and can't help but feel like a living, breathing representation of that - despite my own personal views about that policy. It reinforces to me that I want to be part of the solution - and I want my work to be part of the solution - not part of the problem.

Solutions require action, and one of the things I love most about documentary filmmaking is that it allows for the creation of powerful impact campaigns that can help mobilize people around certain issues.

We feel like there are way too many problems in the world, and there's nothing we can do to solve them. We forget how to be compassionate and start to feel hopeless.