Taking Root Blog

Lisa Merton and Alan Dater, Co-Producers/Directors, of Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, have been working together on the production of documentary films since 1989. Their productions include: Home to Tibet, a film about a Tibetan refugee’s return to his homeland, shown on many PBS stations, and at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam; Bridge of Fire, the story of the collaboration of a Japanese potter and a Vermonter potter, winner of a Cine Golden Eagle and The Best Media Work at the Montreal Festival of Films on Art, also screened at the Museum of Modern Art and the Louvre; and Wolf Kahn: Landscape Painter, a portrait of the well known American painter, winner of a Cine Golden Eagle; and The World in Claire’s Classroom a documentary on a veteran Vermont public school teacher’s extraordinary vision of teaching children how to appreciate diversity, and how to respect themselves and others.
Lisa Merton started out her career as a weaver. She studied textile design and weaving in Scandinavia and, after returning to the U.S., worked professionally as a weaver for ten years. While studying in Norway she was inspired by a series of tapestries that depicted the occupation of Norway by the Nazis. Her intent was to weave tapestry and use it as an art form for social change but instead she ended up as a production weaver. It was not until she started making films in 1989 that she fulfilled her intent to weave images that could inspire social change. She has a Masters in Teaching English and has taught English as a second language in multi-cultural classrooms. She brings her interest in education, cultural diversity, and social change, as well as her skill as a craftsman, to the filmmaking process.