BROOKS INSTITUTE HOSTS FILMMAKER, CHAD HEETER, DIRECTOR OF “TWO MILLION MINUTES: A GLOBAL EXAMINATION,” IN A SPEAKER SERIES PROGRAM

VENTURA, Calif. – (March 25, 2008) – Brooks Institute announces today it will host filmmaker Chad Heeter and producer Adam Raney, who directed, edited, and produced “Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination,” Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 2:00pm in the “New York Bar” set on the Brooks Ventura campus located at 5301 N. Ventura Ave. Heeter and Raney will be discussing this project and much more. Brooks Institute's Visual Journalism faculty member, Brent Huffman, was the cinematographer for this documentary.

Whether Indian, Chinese or American, once a student finishes second grade he or she has approximately 2,000,000 minutes of life before graduating from high school. In other words, he or she has two million minutes to build his/her intellectual foundation, prepare for college, and ultimately, transition from teenager to adult and into a career.

“Two Million Minutes” is a controversial new documentary film comparing and contrasting the high school education experiences of students in India, China and the United States. Nearly two years in the making, this film takes the viewer into the classrooms, homes, and hang-outs of high school students in these three countries. The film asks such questions as: How are students spending their Two Million Minutes? Whether in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off, how that time is spent will affect students' economic prospects for the rest of their lives? Collectively, how will that time spent affect each country's economic prospects in the globally competitive 21st century? Observing the various pressures and priorities of six high school students, their schools and their families, the film provides insight into the changing nature of competition in the knowledge economy.

Supplementing the view from the students' perspectives is a world-class group of experts who elaborate on the differences in education among the countries and discuss implications for America. Interviewees include Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor; Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Congressman Bart Gordon, (D-TN), U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology; Vivek Paul, former CEO of WiPro technologies of India; Tim Draper, Managing Director of Silicon Valley venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Vivien Stewart, Chinese Education Specialist at the Asia Society; Richard Freeman, a Harvard University economist; and Vivek Wadhwa, Executive-in-Residence at Duke University.

The film's director, Chad Heeter, was approached to direct “Two Million Minutes” as he was completing his Master's degree in Journalism and Latin American Studies at U.C. Berkeley. Heeter has been interested in education since spending two years teaching as a member of Teach for America. Heeter was a high school science teacher in Macon, Georgia, and went on to teach in a rural village in Japan. His film work has taken him to India, China, Brazil, Cambodia, Venezuela, and Peru.

The movie has already gained much excitement and was featured on “Good Morning America” in February and has been screened for presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain. The film is also scheduled to be featured on “Oprah” later this year.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please call Brent Huffman at (805) 653-8344. For more information on Two Million Minutes visit www.2Mminutes.com.

About Brooks Institute
Brooks Institute celebrates more than 60 years of educating students in the visual and media arts. With campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, the school offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in fields including Professional Photography, Visual Journalism, Film and Video Production and Graphic Design, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography. Brooks' graduates are visible nationally and internationally, working for distinguished organizations including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times and other national media outlets, including Hallmark Publishing, Cousteau Society, HBO, Kodak and other industry leaders in the visual media arts fields. Brooks Institute is a member of the Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ:CECO) network of universities, colleges and schools. For more information about Brooks Institute and the school's programs, visit www.brooks.edu, or call 805-966-3888.