Resilience is not just a complimentary individual quality, but something that is built. And you build it through a number of things in your life, part of it being social fabric.

Resilience is not just a complimentary individual quality, but something that is built. And you build it through a number of things in your life, part of it being social fabric.

The interesting thing about the ACE study, as it began in the 1990s, is that it was based on a very strict set of ten questions. But what is evolving from that is a better understanding what kind of experiences are beyond the ten questions, and what kind of stressors it generates, there are so many ways that children can be exposed to ongoing stress.

When you have really solid biology and medical science at the core of an issue, it makes it much easier to identify what potential solutions may be.

Through what I have witnessed and documented, with proper interventions you can break those cycles. When I made the first film on this subject, 'Paper Tigers,' kids were going off the cliff. But then there was intervention, and they won't go off the cliff.

My grandfather was a prominent executive at Chevron (oil), and of course my father is a fairly radical and progressive environmentalist. But he was also a very active Democrat and pacifist. More importantly, he was one of the best storytellers I've ever met. I think that trait has been passed down the line, even to my kids.

I'm in full support of that technique [meditation] , and what David Lynch is doing. It's very important.