COMMITTED

A controversial approach to mental health care that just might be a model for the country.

COMMITTED is a PBS documentary-in-progress produced by Ken Rosenberg, MD, and Peter Miller, Emmy and Peabody-winning filmmakers.

As the nation grapples with an epidemic of untreated mental illness, COMMITTED focuses on a groundbreaking approach in which judges, doctors, police, and family members compel people with serious mental illness into comprehensive outpatient care. Set in the rust-belt city of Akron, Ohio, its protagonists are two judges who preside over the court programs supporting people with debilitating illnesses, as well as the participants themselves -- those who take the meds, appear before the judges, and struggle for both their dignity and their sanity.

Filmed over the course of three years with extraordinary, intimate access, COMMITTED follows the journeys of half a dozen court participants, as well as those who provide the care: case workers and peer counselors who provide wraparound support, crisis intervention-trained police officers, health care providers, and family members. The result will be a complex and emotionally intense film intended to help spark an urgent national conversation.

The filmmakers’ previous documentary about mental illness, BEDLAM, premiered to standing ovations at the Sundance Film Festival, was the top rated episode of the season on PBS’s Independent Lens, and won a duPont-Columbia Award, the highest honor for broadcast journalism. COMMITTED will be broadcast as a multi-part special on PBS in Spring 2027, along with a series of shorter digital films to reach new audiences, plus theatrical and festival release, streaming, and a multi-year impact campaign in partnership with national stakeholders, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).