Artful Thinking is all about having fun and helping out with health

By Beth Fhaner

For Tami J. Graham, the desire to help others and be around people was the catalyst for creating the Artful Thinking Organization (ATO), a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds and increasing awareness about HIV/AIDS and breast cancer.

“I felt there was a void for direct service providers’ funding, and I love to be around people,” says Graham, the president and CEO of the group. “And believe me, I have met some very interesting people along this journey.”

With a B.S. in business and an MBA, Graham works a day job as a financial controller in Torrance, where her company makes digital cameras and camcorders for GE. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Graham’s family moved to Southern California decades ago so her “Pops,” as she calls her father affectionately, could help build Disneyland. For the past six years, Graham has called Long Beach home, along with her partner, filmmaker Debbie Rivas, and their three cats.

Founded in late 2009, Artful Thinking hosts creative community-based events, and in turn, donates the proceeds of ticket sales to direct service providers, including local benefactors such as the Woman to Woman Campaign, the AIDS Food Store and the AIDS Assistance Foundation Thrift Store. “Out at the Movies” is ATO’s signature monthly event, where the organization “screens movies with a queer eye.”

“Some of the films we show are not normally screened in this area,” says Graham. “You would have to go to Los Angeles or Palm Springs to see them, so we provide an outlet to the LGBT community that otherwise they would lose out on.”

On Feb. 17, ATO will launch their 2011 season with a DVD release party for the campy film Surgikill with a live Q&A and complimentary food and drinks. In March, the group will screen the film The Sons of Tennessee Williams by Tim Wolff. “We are the only stop between L.A. and Palm Springs to see this great, great documentary about New Orleans’ ‘Stonewall,’” says Graham, referring to the bar and riots of New York City in 1966 that many considered the impetus for the modern gay rights and liberation movement.

“A Night of Comedy” is another event that was added to ATO’s lineup this past December. More than 300 people attended the initial event that featured comedienne Paula Poundstone and benefitted breast cancer awareness. Graham notes that they have some big names in comedy coming up and promises that more will be revealed soon.

On benefitting HIV and breast cancer awareness causes, Graham says, “I believe these are the two biggest medical threats to the LGBT community. The LGBT community has a history of not waiting to go to the doctor. We thought if we could get people to openly talk about it, they might go [to the doctor] and for some, it could save their lives. Long Beach has the second-highest HIV rate in the state, and lesbians as a group have a higher risk for all cancers, including breast cancer.”

Graham’s primary goal for ATO is to basically write bigger funding checks. “There are such good works being done right here in this city to help others,” says Graham. “We’ve made a lot of people smile, and for me, that’s the real payoff. Ultimately, our hope is to be put out of business, and by that I mean that there is a cure found for these diseases.”

With the support of local sponsors, volunteers and the local community, ATO will gladly continue its mission of hosting special events and educating people about HIV and breast cancer. “We will be here until we don’t need to be,” says Graham. “Helping and having fun.”

www.artfulthinking.org.