About the Film

"The Power of Small,” chronicles the journeys of 6 individuals (from a larger group of 50), each gifted with significant financial resources to express generosity and spread kindness. What unfolded was an unanticipated journey of self-reflection and creative empowerment. "The Power of Small" is a story of how modest, intentional, personal acts of kindness possess a remarkable capacity for both self-awareness and widespread lasting impact. The film displays a vibrant mosaic of individual actions, untethered from grand plans, reminding all of us of the potential for human connection, while demonstrating how small acts of kindness can serve as the powerful catalyst for transformative societal change.

About the Kindness Movement

In 2020, at a time when our personal and societal relationships were even more fractured than normal, Terri Bullock decided to launch a kindness movement. Frustrated by the divisiveness and polarization seemingly everywhere, Terri realized she was lucky, she knew many people who at their gut level were kind people. They could be the antidote to the spreading of bad behavior. She selected 50 individuals from all over the country and recruited them to be “Kindness Ambassadors.” 

These 50 individuals were a mix of ages, backgrounds, interests, and abilities. All of them were given a simple mandate: to be their “best selves” and seek ways to do acts of kindness and inspire more kindness in the world. There were no restrictions given on the ways to do this and no reporting requirements. The kindness ambassadors did not disappoint. Their creative, kindness empowering acts were extended far beyond expectations and started ripple effects that continue to this day.

Director’s Statement

As a director, my goal is to tell stories that will educate, entertain, and inspire you to live a life of purpose.

“The Power of Small” is a different film for me. It is the first film I am both the director and a participant in the story. It is the first film that took me on a very personal journey. From being recruited as a “kindness ambassador,” to persuading Terri to let me make a film about the Kindness Movement, to going deep within to find my own path to extending kindness, to taking my film crew to film six of the kindness ambassadors, I kept stumbling into my own story.

Who among us has not needed kindness? Whether you needed a teacher who understood dyslexia, or wanted to feel valued for the work you did, or hungered for community, or were moved by the power of music, or treasured the unconditional love (and kindness) of your dog, we all need kindness. And the truth is - extending kindness benefits both the giver and the recipient, and even the smallest of actions can have immense power. That is the story in The Power of Small. My hope is that everyone who watches this film is persuaded to find their inner kindness.

Meet the Film Team

T.C. Johnstone

Director

  • T.C. Johnstone is a multi-award-winning documentary film director/producer. He has produced and directed multiple features and short documentaries including “Rising From Ashes,” executive produced by Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker. This 2013 feature length documentary is about two worlds colliding when cycling legend Jock Boyer moves to Rwanda to help a group of struggling genocide survivors pursue their dream of a national team. The film won awards at 19 film festivals, received US and international distribution and was a catalyst for the creation of the Rising From Ashes Foundation which continues to support the work of peace and reconciliation.  

    Additional film projects include numerous successful short documentary films. “Red Horizon” (2021) follows a group of young pilots dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen while pursuing their dream of becoming professional aviators and inspiring the black community to take to the skies to change the racial imbalance in the world of aviation. “Teen Press” (2015), winner of numerous festival audience awards, follows an innovative teacher and a group of aspiring teens participating in a unique immersive journalism program at Santa Barbara Middle School. TC’s newest film, “In the Dirt,” has successfully screened in over 50 communities since its release in September 2023.  This film follows a group of passionate Native American cyclists, school social workers, and community elders attempting to bring the sport of mountain biking to the Navajo Nation, where no bike shops exist. 

    T.C. is also the founder of the Gratis 7 Media Group Foundation which produces films designed to create measurable change in 5 specific areas: reconciliation, equipping servant leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick, and educating the next generation. T.C. and his wife, Kristen, are partners in their company Gratis 7 Productions. They live in Boulder, CO. T.C. continues to produce and direct films as well as consult non-profits on media strategy.

Kristen Johnstone

  • Kristen Johnstone is a multi-award-winning documentary film producer. She has assisted with producing several feature and short documentaries. Kristen likes to say she is a Registered Nurse by formal education and a Filmmaker by marriage.  

    Kristen has worked with adolescents with addictions in a hospital setting. She has done almost every job at a summer camp, including being the assistant director. She has worked as a medical/surgical floor nurse and a psychiatric admissions nurse. For the last fifteen years she’s had her hand in some way, form, or fashion in the film industry. She finds the two fields very similar, full of long days, hard work and interesting people. Kristen currently resides in Boulder, CO.

Producer

Meet the Cast

  • As a graduate of the University of the Pacific and UCLA Anderson, Terri worked for a couple of decades in the finance and investment industry.  Using her experience working in wholesale banking for Wells Fargo Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank and as the co-founder of Savant Investment Group (now part of Mariners Wealth Advisors), she ventured into the arts and became the Co-Founder of Windrider Film Festival, Bay Area.  After each festival, she would ask, “Then what?  We’ve shown powerful films, hosted wonderful film guests, orchestrated thoughtful conversations and built community with engaging events.  But have we brought about any actual constructive change?”  

    Her passion for using the arts, particularly film, as a powerful and creative vehicle to inform, engage, and motivate the community to take action, led to the formation of the TDB Family Foundation. With the foundation, she became intentional about working to bring about positive change – with people taking action (sometimes donating, sometimes volunteering and getting more involved).    With the mission of spreading kindness and helping communities thrive, the foundation produces events, frequently with a film, that integrates“Lens of Hope” films with those doing the work in that space of need.   

    The foundation frequently is a bridge between filmmakers who are good at telling stories and individuals, organizations, or nonprofits who do work in the area of need shown in the film.  The first group include natural story-tellers, but they aren’t always good at having the impact they would like to have.  The latter group is usually good at making a big impact and changing people’s lives for the better, but they aren’t always good at telling their own story.  The foundation is the bridge.  It shows films and includes film guests and non-profit guests in the program and the conversation.   The Power of Small is her first time being in a film, with her story of spreading kindness being told. 

Terri Dale Bullock

  • Susan spent much of her adult life working in education as a parent, teacher, speech teacher, and a reading specialist in rural Northern California. Given her background, she understood the important role teachers play in providing the foundational skills for people to be successful later in life along with the challenges teachers face; challenges that often require specialized training. Thus, this was a natural community for her to reach out to for her kindness acts. She provided several teachers and tutors in her community, and surrounding communities, the opportunity for additional training in the science of reading. Her hope was that their increased knowledge and skill would spread out through the educational system and positively impact the lives of many more children and their families than she could have reached individually. 

Susan Benoit

  • Rick took a lifetime of career skills working with clients as a marketing manager and brand identity specialist and applied them in a strategic way to make the most of his invitation to become a kindness ambassador. He thoughtfully reflected on what he had learned working with companies like Pepsi-Cola, Kraft, General Mills, Intel, AT&T, and Louis Vitton, and transferred those skills to build a labor of love project to promote kindness. His hair stylist became his marketing consultant and lead generator who came up with a kindness project they both worked on as they watched an aspiring young musician transform from a high school band participant to a talented “Jazz Man.”

Rick Bragdon

  • Like many men in his generation, Kim joined the military during the Vietnam War and served as a crew chief. After returning to his former bank job in the Silicon Valley, he realized it felt too restrictive to work in an office. For decades now he has lived in rural California, managing a ranch, caring for livestock, growing crops, and building and repairing things in his wood shop. He believes “kindness is just what you do.” When he was invited to be a kindness ambassador, he let his actions speak for themselves. He hopped on his tractor and provided important fire mitigation relief on the properties for his surrounding neighbors.

Kim Bullian

  • Heidi is in middle school, enjoys playing soccer among other sports, playing with her dog, Piper, and hanging out with friends and family. When her grandpa’s partner gave her and her cousins each $500, she took her assignment to be kind very seriously. She identified the kindest person she knew, Marlon, her neighborhood UPS driver. She came up with one of the most simple, yet also creative, projects. She stocked him up on dog treats that he regularly distributes to the neighborhood dogs. There are no age restrictions on spreading kindness.

Heidi Kopf

  • A world class concert violinist, Adelya has performed on some of the biggest stages in the world – Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Seoul Arts Center, and the David Geffen Hall. A native of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, her world was turned upside down during the pandemic. Along with many other artists and musicians, she was unable to do what she loved and perform publicly for audiences. During this season of her life, she used the generous donation she received to work with one of her musical colleagues, Yoonah Kim, to launch Chime for Children, a program designed to bring joy, inspiration, and education to children with limited exposure and access to music, with a focus on hospitals, family centers, and public schools.

Adelya Nartadjieva

  • Will has had an extensive career working in the nonprofit, education, film, and community partnership space. He is a Co-Founder of the Windrider Film Forum and a part of the leadership team who launched Windrider Bay Area in 2010 where he served as the Program Director for 14 years. In 2020, during the pandemic, Will was in a career transition and searching for work at one of the highest unemployment rates in US history. This invitation to become a kindness ambassador reframed how he thought about his career and volunteer work and connected him in unique and meaningful ways with a number of nonprofits in his community. Ultimately, it led him to envision his new job description infused with kindness as the Executive Director of the TDB Family Foundation.

Will Stoller-Lee

Film Credits

T.C. Johnstone
Kristen Johnstone

Andrew Robinson
Jack Zakrajsek

Tyler Boyd
Justin Arwood
Cleod9 Music
Scope & Sequence

Jack Zakrajsek
Kristen Johnstone
Scott Stevens
Ally Cole
Gregg Helvey

DIRECTOR
PRODUCER

CAMERA OPERATORS


EDITOR
POST COLOR
SOUND MIX
ANIMATION

DRONE OPERATOR
SOUND
ORIGINAL SCORE
PHOTOGRAPHY
STORY CONSULTANT

A Gratis 7 Production