The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Library is honored to announce a new partnership with the INTO LIGHT Project, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to changing public understanding of drug addiction through art, storytelling, and education.
Through this collaboration, UCSF Library’s Archives and Special Collections will become the permanent home of the Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories — INTO LIGHT Project National Collection. The Collection documents, through hand‑drawn portraits and personal narratives, the lives of individuals from across the United States who were lost to substance use disorder.
As its steward, UCSF Library will ensure long-term preservation and provide access to the Collection’s materials for researchers, clinicians, students, policymakers, and the public.
“This partnership ensures the legacy of every person in this collection,” remarks INTO LIGHT Project Founder Theresa Clower in a message to friends and advocates of the Project. “Their portraits — drawn in graphite, line by careful line — and the words written to describe who they truly were will inform how we understand addiction, how we teach the next generation of healthcare providers, and how we address the stigma that still, in 2026, costs lives every single day.”
About the INTO LIGHT Project
Theresa Clower founded the INTO LIGHT Project after the death of her son Devin from a fentanyl overdose in 2018. Drawing Devin’s portrait became a source of healing and a catalyst for a broader effort to humanize others who have died from substance use disorder. Each portrait is paired with a narrative written in collaboration with families, offering a compassionate account of their loved one’s life. The INTO LIGHT Project’s Chief Operating Officer, Barbara Francois, emphasizes the importance of changing the conversation about drug addiction and eliminating stigma and shame around the disease, “Their addiction was one facet of who they were – they are not defined by it. They loved and are loved, their lives matter, and their stories keep teaching, opening hearts and minds, and changing how the world sees addiction.”
By the end of 2027, the INTO LIGHT Project will have organized original and traveling exhibitions across 27 states, partnering with local communities to present original artwork and educational programming on substance use disorders. Each exhibition features up to 30 portraits and accompanying narratives from the host state, with original portraits gifted to the subjects’ families. The Community Traveling Collection (CTC), a replication exhibition, is used interactively in schools, on college campuses, and in urban and rural communities, with first responders, health care providers, addiction professionals, law enforcement, and legislators. The Collection at UCSF includes exhibit catalogs, in depth qualitative and interpretive materials, and representative items from the project as well as the Ask Me About Button Campaign, a campaign of wearing buttons as a “walking exhibition.”
“These portraits and narratives illuminate lives that are often reduced to statistics,” reflects UCSF’s Associate University Librarian for Archives and Special Collections and Library Development, and University Archivist, Polina Ilieva. “By bringing this collection into our care, we are ensuring that future researchers, clinicians, learners, and the public have a more human-centered understanding of the people impacted by an often-overlooked epidemic.”
Visit the INTO LIGHT Project website to learn more or to submit a loved one to be part of the project.
Images courtesy of the INTO LIGHT Project