How Our Most Intimate Stories Become Animated Shorts

Ten years ago, Dave Isay founded StoryCorps with the idea that we can learn something amazing from almost anyone, if we just take the time to listen. Over Thanksgiving weekend, StoryCorps celebrated its anniversary with its very first TV special, "Listening Is An Act of Love," an animated documentary featuring stories culled from a decade of gathering and recording intimate tales from across the country.

The special starts with an interview between Isay and his nine-year-old nephew, Benji, and includes animated versions of stories collected from StoryCorps booths in Chicago, New York, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, plus two favorites from San Francisco and Bradenton, Florida. To date, the Peabody Award-winning oral history project has recorded more than 50,000 conversations in 1,700 U.S. cities and towns. Millions have listened to the program on NPR's "Morning Edition." For the past few years, the Rauch Brothers have animated and directed a series of short films for PBS using the original StoryCorps radio pieces.