Sometimes the scariest place to be is inside your own head.

For people in the grip of mental illness, every day is a battle against unknowable demons. Every scrap of pleasure and contentment must be fought for tooth and nail. How does it feel to live this way? And what is it like to watch someone you love go through such suffering?

Unbreakable Minds is an intimate and often moving portrait of three men from suburban Chicago who are struggling to cope with severe mental disorders. The hour-long film makes its world television premiere on VisionTV , airing on Wednesday, May 4 at 10 p.m. ET as part of the network's weekly series of social issues documentaries.

The broadcast honours National Mental Health Week: May 2-8, 2005.

The editors of trend-setting Vice Magazine were so affected by Unbreakable Minds that they devoted their current issue to the men and women involved in WilPower, a Northfield, Ill. support program for people with mental illness, which figures prominently in the film. For more information on this special issue, visit www.viceland.com.

Montreal filmmakers Abbey Jack Neidik and Irene Lilienheim Angelico spent three years following their subjects, recording each small defeat and victory. They captured, too, the emotional and spiritual anguish of family members and friends grappling with their feelings of helplessness in the face of a cruel illness.

The three men at the heart of Unbreakable Minds are:

•  Randy, 35, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 16. At his nadir he went to Los Angeles, convinced that the rock band Guns n' Roses had summoned him, and ended up “another homeless schizophrenic on the street.” These days, Randy has a girlfriend and a steady job at a supermarket. But he battles constantly with his parents about the drugs used to manage his condition, complaining that they leave him feeling empty. “I could be schizophrenic and happy if it weren't for this medication,” he says.

•  Brad, 31, whose descent into the “chaos” of schizophrenia began at 19. His condition has improved dramatically in the past several years, allowing him to resume his college studies and take up a part-time pizza delivery job. But he always feels “a step away” from losing his fragile hold on mental health. “Bradley wants so desperately to be normal,” says his mother Bette. “Sometimes I wish, and God forgive me, that if he were sicker he would find happiness because he wouldn't know normal.”

•  Rob, 42, who was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder almost 15 years ago. With his mother now suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Rob faces the daunting prospect of leaving the house where he has lived for 33 years and moving into a group home. But he does his best to stay optimistic. “I would just like to feel good about myself, to get a job and an apartment and a girlfriend,” he says. “I don't think that's too much to ask of life.”

As the months pass, Randy switches to a new medication and shows alarming personality changes. Brad suffers a sudden and dispiriting setback. And Rob feels the strain of adjusting to his new living conditions. There are moments of terrible despair. But there's hope, too – thanks in part to the efforts of WilPower, an innovative local housing and support centre for people with psychiatric disorders.

“I think God is testing me,” Randy says. “I think God is judging us on what we overcome, rather than what we accomplish.”

Unbreakable Minds was directed by Abbey Jack Neidik, who co-produced with Irene Lilienheim Angelico for DLI Productions in association with VisionTV. Alberta Nokes was the executive producer for VisionTV.

VisionTV is Canada's multi-faith and multicultural television broadcaster. The network's acclaimed social issues documentaries explore the real-life implications of the moral and ethical viewpoints rooted in our faith traditions.

Unbreakable Minds

The Filmmakers

Abbey Jack Neidik – Producer/Director

Irene Lilienheim Angelico – Producer

Abbey Jack Neidik has been involved in making more than 50 films, including two Academy Award nominees. He has earned Genie Awards for the films A Song for Tibet and Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry .

Irene Lilienheim Angelico began her career as a director and editor with the National Film Board of Canada. Her works have been selected to represent the best of the NFB's Studio D at retrospectives in England and France. She is also the founding chair of the Canadian Independent Film Caucus (CIFC) – Montreal.

Angelico and Neidik teamed up in 1980 to form DLI Productions. Their first feature documentary, Dark Lullabies ( Berceuse pour des ombres ) earned critical acclaim throughout North America, Europe and Japan, and received a number of international awards.

Other DLI productions include Entre Solitudes ( Between The Solitudes ), The Journey Home: A Romanian Adoption and the award-winning She Got Game: Coming of Age on the WTA Tour .