• We have deep and abiding respect for those we work with and seek to inspire respect in those who see or hear our work.
• We seek to be of service to those we work with, both within the organization and in our presence in the world.
• We support the work of others and do not see other organizations or projects as competition. We seek to find ways of working collaboratively to deepen and strengthen the impact of our work.
• We focus on the part of a person’s story that most richly describes their capacity, strength, knowledge, courage, and/or connections to others. We acknowledge that this is not the whole ‘truth’ about them or their experience. We think, though, that it is a part of the ‘truth’ that does not typically get enough attention.
• We do not make lemonade out of lemons. There can be a temptation in this work to turn a piece into a ‘Pollyanna’ or hero story. We seek to avoid this—we don’t water down or sweeten the truth to make it easier to accept.
• We seek to embody respect, compassion, and humility in all we do. This means that, though things sometimes may not go as smoothly or quickly as we would like them to, we will not sacrifice respect or the well being of ourselves or others to finish a task.
• We hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability. We fulfill our commitments.
• We are more interested in quality than quantity. By quality, we mean both the experience of the participants in any program as well as the resulting products.

While some of our end products may become public, we recognize that participants in our projects trust us with very personal details of their lives. All associates of the organization, whether volunteer or paid, are committed to protecting the sensitive details that may be revealed in the process of doing our work. We handle all collected materials with care and a sense of responsibility for ensuring that they are used only in ways that are respectful of those whose stories we tell.