This post was submitted by NCDD member Jeffrey Abelson of Song Of A Citizen. If you are interested in getting involved or sharing your stories with Jeffrey, email him at ja@songofacitizen.com.

Many of you know me from the videos I’ve produced with D&D leaders over the last few years.

I’ve done that under the umbrella of my non-profit, non-partisan “Song Of A Citizen” project — the mission of which is to create an ongoing slate of films and videos to inspire fellow Americans to engage as citizens more seriously, and to participate in dialogue and deliberation forums as one of the best ways to do that.

But as you all well know, most people have never heard of D&D. So shining a bright spotlight on the field is critical. Doing it through the production of mass appeal media is one of my top priorities. I seek nothing less than to make D&D a household word.

And I could use your help.

If you haven’t seen the original Video Op-Ed series we did, you might want to check that out.

Ditto the series of interviews I filmed with D&D leaders at the last NCDD conference.

Now it’s time to shift from projects that feature experts, and therefore have a limited (though critical) audience — to projects designed to resonate with the general public. That’s actually my strong suit. I’ve been making films and videos that reach and impact millions of people for 30 years (from prime time PBS documentaries to high profile MTV videos). You can learn more about my creative work at http://jeffreyabelson.com.

But my main focus these day is how to turn up the volume on D&D so the general public, and mainstream media, know that (a) these processes and opportunities actually exist and (b) that they very well may be the elusive answer that frustrated and cynical citizens have long been looking for.

To that end, I’d like to mention one project I’ve been developing that I’d love see take off soon. It’s a documentary feature film called “The Deciders” — which will tell the stories of diverse citizens who’ve participated in successful deliberative forums in recent years, along with some enlightened public officials who’ve participated as well. The film will tell their stories using a variety of artful cinematic devices. It won’t be a typical talking heads film.

Courtesy of Tyrone Reitman and Elliot Shuford, I’ve already spoken with a number of people who participated Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review. And they told me some really inspiring stories about how their participation triggered big attitude shifts (in how they viewed the issue being considered, or the role as a citizen more broadly).

Now I’d like to connect with folks in other parts of the country, who’ve participated in other projects, and who have other compelling stories of transformation to tell.

I imagine many of you know of many such people/stories. If so, I’d love to hear about them, and get some contact info.

And if you feel you might have other ideas or resources that could help this project, or the overall “Song Of A Citizen” mission — then, by all means, please let me know.

It’s time to crank up the dial, and make some noise about all this!