UNC-TV ONLINE: North Carolina Visions:

Just As I Am
(DOCUMENTARY - Running Time: 51 minutes)
Stuart Grasberg & Carolyn DeMerritt

Dwyane Lynn Catrell lived in Salisbury, NC, a typical American Bible Belt community-not accustomed to AIDS and its related issues. Dwyane died on Dec. 2, 1993 of AIDS- related illnesses. Seven weeks prior to his death, with cameras rolling and while enduring tremendous pain, Dwyane sat with six teenagers for a frank discussion of his disease...designed to be his legacy.

Despite hatred and bigotry in his community, Dwyane received the full support and unconditional love of his parents. His brother, Lee, however, bitterly resented Dwyane's lifestyle and found his disease to be abhorrent. Lee alienated himself from his brother and his family until the final days of Dwyane's life. At his deathbed, because of the generosity and understanding of Dwyane, the brothers reconciled. Lee's struggle to understand continued.

By combining the filming session with subsequent interviews with the family after Dwyane's death, Just As I Am examines, through the dynamics of this family's relationships, mirroring those of the community at large, how an ordinary family deals with the multiple issues of acceptance, disease and death.