He first went in 1984 to study the Javanese Shadow Puppet theater, and has written a book and Master’s thesis on the subject. He speaks Indonesian and Javanese. He’s also practiced Ashtanga yoga for 20 years, and studied in India with Sri Pattabhi Jois. Beginning in 1996 he immersed himself in the world of Balian - Balinese traditional healer/shaman, and is completing a documentary on the subject. He got his start in documentary as an editor on the Academy Award-winning feature documentary "The Panama Deception". He won a Soros-Sundance grant for "Crash Course"”a documentary on the 1998 upheaval in Indonesia. He has worked as a Foreign Correspondent for ABC News and as a Producer/Cameraman for New York Times Television, the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, PBS, ABC News and as Boston field producer for Al Jazeera and Good Morning America.