"I know victims who would much rather not have been victimized in the first place," she said. "When we know there are successful things that can keep kids out of the system and help them not come back, that's really about prevention. And that's the best public safety."

It is a legacy that goes back decades, to when community radio stations were revolutionizing access to information, and personal film cameras created new avenues of expression.

Parents recognized that their children were displaying behavioral problems at school, but not at home. I realized there was a problem bigger than they even knew.

When I was six, I started a kindness project called This Life Rocks. At the time, my dad was recovering from his first cancer, and I was struggling with selective mutism.