TOUCH for the 21st Century - the Film

Please help us complete our film, TOUCH for the 21st Century, to educate children, parents, and teachers about the prevention of child abuse. The first TOUCH film in 1983 was a groundbreaking, innovative approach to talking to children about sexual abuse. The program revolutionized the way that we, as a culture, tackle the prevention of child sexual abuse. But still today, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are victims.

We must now update the film to include material that sheds light on the ways predators and peers use the Internet to target children. Your help is greatly needed to complete the film and distribute it across the state and country for an even bigger impact.  One mother wrote to us after viewing an excerpt and said, "This critically important issue, which could be so uncomfortable, shows us it can be taught in a safe and natural conversation. As a parent, I appreciate this more now than ever."

Be part of the solution.  Donate now and help us finish TOUCH for 21st Century.   With your gift, we can bring this film and program to the world and SAVE KIDS' LIVES. 

If you have access to the Star Tribune, click here for an article on TOUCH for the 21st Century.

In 1977, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office (HCAO) partnered with the Illusion Theater to find a way to talk to children about sexual abuse, train staff and prepare child victims for court.  Illusion agreed to work with the HCA Office to be the "media" for this endeavor. The resulting piece TOUCH took the fear, the medical, and legal jargon out of this difficult issue. TOUCH created a language children can use to describe different kinds of touch; it encourages children to ask for help, not to keep secrets (one of the ways predators are able to continue their abuse is by threatening children "to keep our little secret") and to give the child victims the understanding that being a victim of child sexual abuse is not their fault. 

This play and the subsequent film released in 1983 with Bionic Woman star Lindsay Wagoner has been distributed throughout the world.

TOUCH revolutionized how our culture talks about, approaches and works at keeping children safe. This play has been performed in every state of the country and at several international conferences. It transformed the way sexual abuse, molestation, incest and sexual predators are talked about around this country and around the world. 

We didn't know then, but we do know now:

One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18. 

Children are most vulnerable to sexual abuse between the ages of 7 and 13.

The average age of a child being trafficked is between the age of 11 and 14.

Alarmed by the hundreds of cases of child sexual abuse seen and prosecuted by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, together, the HCAO and Illusion chose to update the 1983 film version of TOUCH to provide awareness about the current threats to today's children.  

Hennepin County Attorney's Office has shared scenarios that come from current court cases that illuminate how today's predators are using sexting, sex impersonation, trolling, cat-fishing, and child sex trafficking to find and groom their victims. All of these scenes are in the updated film TOUCH. 

We invite you to join our growing circle of friends with a gift to support this important film.

Your support at the $100, $250, or other level will make a difference in addressing this important issue today and for future generations. For your contribution, we will include you in the list of community producers and invite you to the premiere of the film.