When you introduce these tools into the community, they can be adopted and implemented at the local level - and the results have been powerful. We have to ask the questions, how do people survive in poverty and other challenges of traumatic childhoods? And, until we fix this underlying problems, how do we help people in the meantime?

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.

I also think there is a wisdom and strength in that generation [of our parents], in terms of getting through difficult times, and there is a stoicism in the face of challenges that I greatly admire.

It doesn't take billions of dollars or complex medical technologies, and there doesn't have to be a dramatic upending to the current order. It's trying to change the mindset of people who deal with youth to have less judgement and more curiosity. That's asking a lot, emotionally it's asking people to step up and engage more. But what I often heard was that is easier for them to engage emotionally, than to just be angry and judgmental.

In documentary films, being able to be a storytelling and embrace film as an art form - while being very clearly connected in trying to help make the world a better place - is really important to me.

There is also a philosophy of less-is-more, and a little dignity that never hurt anybody. There are many qualities to admire about our father's generation.