"Myself, I have had HIV for six years. It is something I have learned to manage, I hope that with the program people will learn to manage it as well."

"Like me, some of you might may be living with HIV or AIDS in your families or among your friends. Your dad may have HIV. Your mom may have HIV - or your brother or sister. My advice to you is, don't be afraid to love them."

"I'm working on my own version of vitamin treatments...One Barney, three Wilmas, and five Dinos."

"There has been a change of focus...from 'Oh my God, you have HIV/AIDS - you're going to die!' to 'You're HIV positive and here are some things you can do about it.'"

Produced from the vantage point of people who are living daily with the virus, Positive: Life with HIV is a limited series of four one-hour programs that provides a forum for sharing the achievements, frustrations, aspirations, and successes of those who are affected and/or infected by AIDS.

In Oklahoma, Mike and Debbie rethink the American dream when they become a one-income family and face the future of Mike's HIV positive status together. In New York, Patrick shares his matter-of-fact preparations, from his organized medical and financial files to his coded system for who gets what after he dies. Sweet Honey in the Rock offers a musical reflection on the spiritual space between life and death. In Puerto Rico, a grandmother produces an on-going television news segment, entitled "Letters to My Grandchildren," sharing her insights about her own HIV status and experiences.

Positive: Life with HIV brings a unique view of life through the window of HIV, as it explores matters of universal human concern: living with chronic illness, humor in the face of sadness, planning for your child's - or your parent's - life without you, becoming your own best expert, juggling fear with hope, finding new friends when the old ones aren't there for you. By presenting a broad range of first-person perspectives, stories, and examples of multi-dimensional AIDS-related creativity, Positive: Life with HIV will provide viewers with options, tools, and strategies for making important choices in their own lives, whatever their circumstances.

Positive: Life with HIV, a four-hour limited series, was produced by AIDSFilms (Franklin Getchell, president; Juanita Anderson, executive producer; Calogero Salvo and Lucy Winer, series producers) for the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Coordinating producer for ITVS: Janet Cole. Additional funding for this series was provided by the Ford Foundation and the Will Rogers Foundation.

Segment Producers: Juanita Anderson, Jana Birchum, Gregg Bordowitz, Richard Cardran, Ayoka Chenzira, Cheryl Chisholm, Christine Choy, Julie Dash, Stacy Foiles, Tami Gold, Dan Jones, Daresha Kyi, Blake MacAluso, Tom Poole, Lourdes Portillo, Gary Robinson, Joanelle Nadine Romero, Fran Rzeznik, Catherine Saalfield, Calogero Salvo, Veronica Selver, Mona Smith, Ellen Spiro, John Traynor, Lucy Winer.

Positive: Life with HIV will be accompanied by ITVS's most ambitious outreach campaign to date. With a $100,000 seed grant from the Ford Foundation, ITVS will implement a multi-tiered community outreach campaign that will range from collaborations with national organizations to local, community-based partnerships. A viewer's guide in English and Spanish will point audiences toward national and regional resources. A parallel national promotion campaign will be implemented by Porter/Novelli whose ties to health and science press and organizations will greatly benefit the series.