For the past 25 years, Suzan Pitt has been exploring the female psyche through painting, performance art, theater design and animation. Her acclaimed experimental animated film works are characterized by their raucous color schemes and concern with the spiritual and psychological journeys of their protagonists. She has also directed animated shows for television, and since 1997, has been on the faculty of the animation department at the California Institute of the Arts. Interested in the aesthetic and formal potential of moving painted images, her goal has always been to make animated films that are gorgeous to look at but which also have something important to say. Her current project is "El Doctor," a 26-minute film set in Mexico. The title character is an elderly doctor who is overcome with despair and anger at the deformities and ailments that he is surrounded by each day. A visit by a fictional saint shows him that what he perceives as ugliness and imperfection is in fact just the opposite. Pitt's 1995 "Joy Street" (24 minutes, 35mm film) also features a spirit guide character who helps the female protagonist conquer her crippling feelings of depression. Pitt received her BFA from Cranbook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI.