Dream camp hits the big screen

Dream camp hits the big screen
Camp Woz subject of independent documentary
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
What started as a dream week for a group of youngsters now has become an award-winning movie.

FILE PHOTO Campers board a bus at the beginning of their dream camp trip to Camp Woz in northern California in 2008.
That was the progression for social worker Joe Patane, who just two years ago embarked on a trip to the West Coast to launch the first dream camp.

Patane teamed up with Apple founder Steve Wozniak and took 10 Jersey Shore teenagers to California for Camp Woz during the summer of 2007.

The youths selected to attend the camp were classified as having emotional and behavioral problems.

The campsite was the home of Wozniak, one of the developers of the personal computer and co-founder of Apple Computer Inc.

Since that time, Patane has hosted four other camps with the help of West Long Branch nonprofit Monmouth Cares.

Patane has also turned the first camp experience into a 78-minute documentary titled "Camp Woz: The Admirable Lunacy of Philanthropy."

Patane also plans to have documentaries made for each of the camps, and said the documentaries will be not for profit.

"The documentaries are nonprofit and non-exploitive of the kids," he said. "I will keep them all that way."

The original Camp Woz documentary has won awards in both California and New Jersey, which is still somewhat of a surprise for Patane.

"It's really surprising," he said of the awards. "It was a fun thing to do.

"When I came up with the Dream Camp idea, I knew I wanted to film it," he added.

Patane also credited Wozniak for drawing a lot of attention to the camps, his foundation and the documentaries when Wozniak was on the "Dancing With the Stars" TV show in 2009.

Drew Foster and Jarrad Kritzstein, who Patane said talked him into doing the project, directed the film.

The movie premiered in January 2008 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, and Patane said that participants in the first camp have come back to tape some of the other camps.

Patane described some of the campers in an email last week.

"Camp Woz camper Zack Karper is busy putting the finishing touches on the 'Dream Camp Wyoming' short documentary film that he directed with the sound, camera, and editing assistance of Evan and Eric Sanborn, also from Camp Woz," he said.

"Evan got his one-minute film accepted into The Atlantic Highlands One-Minute Film Festival," he added.

Patane, who is a former cast member of MTV's hit reality show "The Real World," used to work with Wozniak as an assistant in one of his computer classes for kids and was inspired by his philanthropy to start the dream camps.

Patane still has fond memories of the inaugural camp.

"I just wanted to take them somewhere wonderful and give them a unique and crazy experience," he said. "It was successful and fun for everyone involved."

One of the main features of the camp was for the participants to make contacts that will help them the rest of their lives.

"I wanted to [acquaint] them with a lot of cool people," he said, "people who they could contact later on for advice and career interests."

Patane also described the participants as needing a little extra push in life.

"These are kids who need an extra bit of love," Patane said. "After the camp, they can think 'Hey, I can do anything.'"

Patane said he believes these young people receive limited attention and resources, and with a little bit extra, they can accomplish great things.

"No one thinks they are capable of anything," he said. "Resources are limited. If we gave them all our resources, it would have one hell of an impact."

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.


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