John de Graaf

John de Graaf

Documentary Filmmaker

John de Graaf is a documentary filmmaker who has produced more than a dozen prime-time national PBS specials and has won more than 100 filmmaking awards. The John de Graaf Environmental Filmmaking Award, named in his honor, is presented each year at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in California. 

De Graaf is the Executive Director of Take Back Your Time and co-founder of The Happiness Initiative. He is the co-author of the books Affluenza and What’s the Economy for, Anyway? and has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Progressive, Solutions Journal, YES!, Grist, Al Jazeera, Earth Island Journal, Experience Life and many other publications. He is an international public speaker and has taught for the Evergreen State College, the University of Washington, and Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts. He has been working with the government of Bhutan on its Gross National Happiness project, and lives in Seattle. De Graaf is also the Senior Well-Being Advisor for Earth Economics, a nonprofit ecosystem services organization.


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