Listen to State of Mind: America 2003 opening billboard

Dramatic cutbacks in public mental health care in states throughout the country are dumping people with serious mental illness into jails, homeless shelters and on the street at a rate eerily reminiscent of the deinstitutionalization of the 1960s and 70s. This special broadcast event, taped live at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, examines the impact of those cuts and the threat they pose to the well-being of some of the most vulnerable and fragile Americans, as well as the real cost to society. Host Dr. Fred Goodwin's line-up includes: former First Lady Rosalynn Carter; former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, a performance by Academy Award nominee and three-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Aimee Mann and a reading by acclaimed author Meri Nana-Ama Danquah from her memoir Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression.

Taped live at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, April 30, 2003.
Produced in association with The Carter Center and WABE Public Broadcasting Atlanta, in association with WNYC/NY, Georgia Public Radio and the New York Foundation for the Arts.


This annual special The Infinite Mind broadcast event brings together an unprecedented line-up of speakers and performers to explore the critical mental health issues facing the nation.