ABOUT

THE
STORY

Richard Ruston was afflicted with paranoid schizophrenia before his daughter Delaney Ruston’s birth. After many years of shame, frustration, and fear, she decided to hide from her father and keep her phone number and address unlisted. But now, 10 years later, Richard is more stable on a newer medicine and Delaney, given her experiences as a doctor and a mother, decides to reconnect with her father. What new understanding and acceptance of her dad and his illness can she now find? What obstacles to getting her dad treatment will she now face? Knowing that her earlier failed attempts to get needed treatment to her dad is a common occurrence in today’s starved mental health system, Delaney decides to bring her camera with her during this journey of reconciliation.

As the story unfolds, Delaney finds that the wall she has created between her and her dad starts to slowly crumble as she applies her medical understanding of her dad’s illness to their tormented past. By meeting with people involved in her father’s life, past and present, and by referring to her father’s autobiographically based novel that he wrote during the onset of his schizophrenia, Delaney begins to better understand her father’s world and how she can now be a part of it. But this journey is not without strain as Delaney faces the conflicts around caring for her father that have existed since her youth. Delaney must confront family members who each hold strong opinions about her responsibility to her dad and she must face the constant tension of her dad wanting to go off treatment. When he finally does, Delaney finds herself on a race against time that is a matter of life and death.

Sharing touching and at times painful details about the personal toll of mental illness, Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia is a soul-searching examination into the nature of responsibility—of parents and children, of physicians and patients, of society and citizens towards those afflicted with severe mental illness

THE
FILMMAKER

Delaney Ruston is a filmmaker, author, and Stanford-trained physician with 25 years of experience creating award-winning documentaries focused on social change, especially around mental health. Her award-winning films include Screenagers, which explores solutions for healthy screen time, Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER, which addresses teen mental health, and Screenagers Under the Influence, covering vaping, drugs, and alcohol in the digital age. Her latest film, Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition, tackles the challenges faced by elementary-aged children, parents, and educators. To date, over 14 million youth and adults have gathered for community screenings of these films in 104 countries.

As a trusted expert on the area of youth and screen time, Delaney has been invited to speak at places such as Google, Facebook, The Aspen Institute, many national conferences, and medical and academic centers. Her views are often in the press, such as Good Morning America, NPR, New York Times, and many others.

Her award-winning PBS films Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia, about her father, and Hidden Pictures, about global mental health were both the focus of advocacy campaigns, including with the World Health Organization. For her work in mental health advocacy Ruston has won several awards including from Harvard and Mental Health America.

Ruston, who is a Fulbright scholar, previously was a researcher in human communication and bioethics at UC San Francisco and then was faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine followed by Stony Brook School of Medicine, New York. Alongside filmmaking, Ruston has been providing care to underserved teens and adults in Seattle for the past 20 years.