Discover the Project

Original portraits and life stories of people who died from substance use disorder, shared to change how we understand addiction.

Discover the Project

REAL PEOPLE: REAL LESSONS

Understanding addiction through the lives behind the loss.

INTO LIGHT Project is a national nonprofit working to change how people understand addiction, because stigma and misinformation cost lives. Our educational exhibition, Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories, pairs original graphite portraits with professionally written narratives about people who died from substance use disorder.

Each story reflects a whole life: the athlete who was first to show up for a teammate, the young woman who doubted herself but never hesitated when someone she loved needed help, the young man who brought happiness into every room he entered. Meeting these individuals as people first challenges the stereotypes many of us, young and old, have absorbed about addiction: that it is a choice, a moral failing, or something that only happens to other families.

It also brings home a danger too many people still don’t recognize. New and more potent drugs are constantly entering the supply, and counterfeit pills made to look like real prescriptions can contain fentanyl or newer substances most people have never heard of. Many of the people in our exhibitions died after taking a single pill, never knowing what was in it.

When we understand addiction, we are more likely to recognize the risks, ask for help, and offer it without judgment. Our exhibitions give people of every age a place to learn and a reason to talk openly about one of the most urgent public health crises of our time.

“Science and art are not often thought of together in tandem, but the intersection of neuroscience to understand how the brain changes due to substance use and addiction and art to remind us of our shared humanity provides a powerful way to help alleviate deep-rooted stigma and inaccurate perceptions. While scientific evidence can build a case with evidence and data, the emotional connection experienced through art can be an even stronger argument for changed perceptions on addiction and overdose.”

Dr. Nora Volkow

Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health

The need for this work is urgent. In 2024, 48.4 million Americans age 12 and older had a substance use disorder, yet only about one in five people who needed treatment received it. Stigma is part of the reason. Shame and fear of judgment keep people from asking for help and keep families from talking openly.

Overdose deaths have begun to decline, but nearly 68,000 people still died in the most recent 12-month period, about 185 people every day. That is nearly twice as many as die in traffic crashes. Overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 44, the years when many are raising children. Between 2011 and 2021, more than 320,000 children in the United States lost a parent to overdose. Each of those lives is a person,

The drug supply remains unpredictable: in DEA laboratory testing, half of the counterfeit pills analyzed contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.

Numbers alone have not changed how people think about addiction. Real stories and conversation can, and that is the heart of INTO LIGHT Project’s educational work. By helping visitors of every age replace stereotypes with understanding, recognize the risks in today’s drug supply, and talk openly about what they’ve learned, INTO LIGHT Project’s educational exhibitions have the potential to save lives, keep families healthy, and turn visitors into allies for people living with addiction and those who love them.

How Each Portrait and Story Is Created

Each portrait and narrative is created with care by professional artists and writers. Our artists are selected for their skill in classical graphite portraiture. Our writers draw on a questionnaire completed by each family to tell the story of their loved one’s life, rather than the circumstances of their death. Families have final approval of both the portrait and the narrative before either is exhibited or published.

At the close of each exhibition, the original framed portrait is given to the family as a gift, and the portrait and narrative are permanently archived at the University of California, San Francisco, where they continue to support research, education, and policy.

Artists

A select group of artists throughout the country, identified for their ability to draw graphite portraiture in a classical style, help to carry out the work of the INTO LIGHT Project.

Artists from the state where the exhibits are held are our first priority.

Writers

A group of writers across the United States are selected for their interest in the project and their ability to write compelling stories about the lives of those in the exhibition.

Sample Drawings and Narratives

Each Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories exhibition is unique because it is based on submissions from individuals in the state where the exhibition is held. Sample drawings and narratives from previous exhibitions are below.

Arnold Ceballos

Arnold Ceballos

Loving, happy, adventurous, ambitious, kind, humble, big heart Imagine someone who comes into a room and literally brings happiness with them; that was Arnold. He was friendly and bubbly and had a huge heart. Not wanting to raise her infant son in an abusive relationship, Arnold’s mother, Graciela, credits him with giving her the courage to leave when he was six months old. It wasn’t until he was 14 that Arnold found out his stepfather Jorge was not his biological dad. He took it well because he was so loved and happy with the family he had.

Michael (MT) Taylor

Michael (MT) Taylor

Athletic, friendly, diligent, inspirational, kind Michael, known as “MT” or “MT-400” to his friends, was renowned for his athleticism and for being supportive of others both on and off the field. He received many athletic awards in three sports: football, basketball, and track. His coaches lauded him for his friendly attitude, strong work ethic, and for inspiring teammates and coaches alike. Known as the best defender in the Los Padres League, MT was confident, kind and the one to show up first when someone needed help.

Kristen Patterson

Kristen Patterson

Funny, authentic, smart, unpredictable, insightful Kristen was beautiful, funny, and skilled with words, but frequently doubted herself. The only time these insecurities faded into the background was when her loved ones needed help. Once, when an enormous dock spider slipped into her and her friend’s canoe, she put aside her own fears and smashed it with her oar. When another friend broke her collarbone in the woods without any way to call for help, Kristen guided her to safety. Even when she felt most unsure of herself, she still held her mother Rosie’s hands, comforting her, while they chatted on the couch. Her older brother, Tyler, was one of the few who understood Kristen’s bravery to be a labor of love.

Where We've Been and Where We're Going

Since 2019, INTO LIGHT Project has worked to educate the public about substance use disorder and reduce the stigma surrounding it, using graphite portraits and written narratives that show the real people behind the statistics.

Our exhibitions have reached more than 135,000 visitors, including over 35,000 students, in museums, galleries, schools, and community spaces. Our Community Traveling Collection (CTC) exhibitions now carry these stories into the far corners of several states, reaching small towns and rural communities that rarely see an exhibition of this kind.

Every portrait and narrative is permanently archived at the University of California, San Francisco, where it continues to inform research, education, and policy long after an exhibition closes.

Since 2019, INTO LIGHT Project has worked to educate the public about substance use disorder and reduce the stigma surrounding it, using graphite portraits and written narratives that show the real people behind the statistics.

Our original state exhibitions alone have reached more than 135,000 visitors, including over 35,000 students, in museums, galleries, schools, and community spaces. To date, original exhibitions have been held or are in development in nearly 30 states.

Every portrait and narrative is permanently archived at the University of California, San Francisco, where it continues to inform research, education, and policy long after an exhibition closes.

Looking ahead, INTO LIGHT Project plans one original Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories exhibition in each of the 50 U.S. states. This long-range project will culminate in a National Multimedia Exhibition featuring more than 1,500 portraits, and in the establishment of an endowment to sustain ILP’s educational mission for years to come.

Each state exhibition is accompanied by robust educational programming reaching schools, universities, and rural communities that might otherwise go without access to these resources. We are now booking exhibitions for 2028 and beyond.

In addition to each state’s primary exhibition, INTO LIGHT Project’s Community Traveling Collection (CTC) brings a replicated version of the exhibition to community venues, including libraries, hotels, corporate spaces, classrooms, rural health clinics, recovery centers, and other non-traditional settings. CTC exhibitions are now traveling to the far corners of several states, reaching small towns that rarely see an exhibition of this kind and extending ILP’s reach well beyond the visitor numbers above.

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