Patty Piroh of Broadcasting, left, and Eileen Foti of Art and Design will go to South Africa this summer to document a project that promotes social change through art.

When Chinese government official and scholar Ts'ai Lun ground up mulberry bark, linen and hemp, made wet mush of the fibers then spread it out on a mat of coarse cloth and bamboo frame 2,000 years ago, he gave the world its first recorded gift of paper. Today South African artist Kim Berman is using the art of papermaking to bring the world another gift--positive social change.

This summer Patty Piroh of Broadcasting and Eileen Foti of Art and Design will travel to Johannesburg, South Africa to document that social change through the programs set up by Berman. Their project will be a one-hour documentary that shows how art practices are being used to address issues of poverty, illiteracy and the AIDS crisis in provinces throughout South Africa.

"Kim's creation of the Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg, and the poverty relief papermaking and embroidery projects throughout nine rural South African provinces are particularly important because in South Africa, as well as in this country, art is often seen as expendable, as one of the first things to go when budgets are cut," said Piroh. "Yet through the use of art, we find a unique and surprising way to help people."

Piroh and Foti will interview Berman, the art/AIDS awareness trainers and women from impoverished communities who have been positively affected by her initiatives.

"Through their words and faces, we will see the true impact of what Kim and art have done for them," said Piroh. "We'll see how art contributes more to our world than ever imagined before. Besides the traditional view of art simply enriching our lives, we will find how there are also humanitarian uses, extraordinary social, psychological and economic advantages, and cross-cultural communication benefits as well."

The importance of the documentary is twofold. "First, it is critical for people to understand that one person, like Kim Berman, a single life force, can do something and can make a difference in the face of such a large problem," Piroh said. "Her initiatives have impacted impoverished communities by creating more than 450 jobs and providing HIV/AIDS awareness counselors on site. Second, through the use of something unlikely as art, we find we are able to 'treat' the human being who is experiencing the reality of living with AIDS. A single person cannot solve the problem of AIDS--that is for teams of doctors and researchers to do--but a person can help to ease the pain, help to give self-respect back and help many of the afflicted learn to help themselves."

"This is less about making paper and more about empowering the people," said Foti, who has made several visits to the Artist Proof Studio since 1997.

Foti said Berman was active in the apartheid movement in Africa for years. She came to the United States to study printmaking in Boston to earn an M.F.A., and the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison was the day she went back. Before returning to Africa she sold all her personal possessions and took her tool etching press back with her, hoping to start a community-based workshop where poor, talented, impoverished black artists in the township and the surrounding provinces who otherwise would not have a chance could study art. "They not only learn about art, how to teach and how to become printers," she said, "but they also learn literacy, business and computer skills. So in reality Kim has given people an opportunity to earn a living in the arts."

Piroh got the idea of co-producing a documentary with Foti when she attended one of Foti's papermaking classes at which a visiting artist from South Africa and a member of the artists group Berman founded 10 years ago did a moving presentation. "When the artist was talking I started hearing what the documentary would sound like, with the papermaking and the water dripping," said Piroh. "It just seemed like it was something that needed to be done."

This project originally was scheduled for last year, but while Piroh and Foti were preparing to leave, the Artist Proof Studio burned to the ground in March, killing co-founder Nhlanhla Xaba. "This was all the more reason I felt we should go there to tell the story," said Foti.

Foti will bring to the project years of experience and research from being involved with the Artist Proof Studio, while Piroh brings the ability to transform the information into a documentary. Two students (one graduate and one undergraduate) will accompany them to Africa. While Global Education has provided some money for airfare, Piroh and Foti are seeking additional funding and the rest they will pay out of pocket.

The pair will travel to Africa in June, and post-production will begin in July. They hope to air the documentary on or near World AIDS Day in December on Comcast of Northern New Jersey and Cablevision, reaching a half million homes. Possible additional outlets include New Jersey Network/PBS and Thirteen. They are also exploring the possibility of producing companion material for schools and libraries.