About — The 50

“We are experts in the field when it comes to loneliness, hurt, and pain. If we had the right support, if we had the right love and acknowledgment, if we had the right education and therapy, we could ultimately become the greatest healers of our society.”

Cameron Clark
Member of The 50

Against the backdrop of prison overcrowding and widespread drug use, The 50 documents the unprecedented journey of 50 men who challenged society’s expectations of them to become certified substance abuse counselors while incarcerated.

Weaving the past with the present

The Offender Mentor Certificate Program—a first of its kind—takes its participants through a ‘parallel process’, one that helps participants develop professional skills and become counselors while also asking them to take an inward look at the pain they have both experienced and caused.

Following Cameron, Al, and Randy—all members of the program—The 50 mirrors this process, weaving the past and present with impressionistic re-enactments of each member’s past, present-day studies, and overarching explorations of how their stories challenge society’s expectations for them.

Character-driven storytelling and surreal visual metaphor move viewers to re-evaluate their perceptions and to seriously contend with their own cycles of hurt and healing.

MEET THE 50

CAMERON CLARK

Cameron joined the Compton Crips when he was 13. A skilled drug dealer before reaching high school, Cameron served time in Youth Authority, and then later in state prison. It was many years before he would exchange gang culture for the community of OMCP, but today Cameron is the Executive Director of DOVE, an organization that works to prevent the incarceration of young men and help transition those leaving prison back into society.

al roensch

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, young Al tended to self-isolate. In Al’s early 20s, he retaliated violently when his close friend and then girlfriend became romantic. Al spent 19 years in state prison, where, as a member of the first 50, he became both a college graduate and a certified drug and alcohol counselor. Currently, Al serves as a minister and councilor at his local church in Napa, CA.

Randy Carter

Randy spent his early life between East Oakland and San Diego, split between his family. At the age of 19, he killed a man during an altercation. It was his first time holding a gun. Randy served 35 years in state prison for first-degree murder, ultimately becoming a drug and alcohol counselor and one of the top students of his class. Today, Randy works as a case manager providing social services to some of the most vulnerable of the unhoused populations in San Francisco and as a public speaker.