Stephen Silha is a freelance writer, filmmaker and futurist. Born in Minneapolis, he began writing for newspapers in fifth grade, and went on to report for The Minneapolis Star and The Christian Science Monitor. Silha studied English and communications at Principia College and Mankato State University, where he helped design a futuristic education system for a proposed experimental city in Minnesota. He has worked with numerous philanthropic foundations, including the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Children's Express News Service, Libraries for the Future and the United Nations.
After working for the Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan, Silha moved to the Puget Sound region of Washington, where he has worked a freelance writer, publicist, facilitator and consultant. He is past president of the Washington News Council, a forum for media fairness in Washington State. He has also co-facilitated youth-adult dialogues on Vashon Island, Washington. His current project, Journalism that Matters, is a conversational think-and-do tank concerned with the future of journalism. Founded in 2000, the project has inspired experiments across the country.
Silha knew James Broughton personally and was mentored by him for many years. Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton is Silha's first feature documentary.