How the Savannah College of Art and Design Empowered One Alumna to Rescue Her Family From the Taliban

In 2021, when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, Sabrina Spanta knew she had to get her younger sisters out. Spanta had emigrated to the United States two decades earlier and had fully embraced American culture. Yet she remained deeply connected to her roots, even incorporating Afghani influences into her senior thesis at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

For months, Spanta watched from abroad as the rights of Afghani women eroded under Taliban rule. Determined to act, she made a bold move: Spanta reached out to SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace, seeking support in securing her sisters’ escape.

Spanta’s remarkable journey is captured in “One Step Away,” a short documentary directed by SCAD alum Leslie Merlin, produced by Spanta and executive produced by Wallace. Combining Spanta’s personal testimony with collage-style animations, the film captures her story in her own words, highlighting how the SCAD community empowered her to find her voice and helped her create a brighter future for her sisters.

IndieWire connected with Spanta and Wallace to learn more about the project and the inspiring story behind it.

IW: SCAD helped you give expression to your feelings about your culture, with how you adapted Afghani fashions for the fashions you created for your senior thesis. You talk a lot about how assimilated into the U.S. you were, how after 9/11 you didn’t really acknowledge your Afghani heritage. How did SCAD help you reconnect with it?

SABRINA SPANTA: For a long time, especially after 9/11, being newly adopted from Afghanistan was a frightening experience. I felt that the only way to stay safe was to stay quiet, hide my past, and start fresh. I wanted to be an American girl — wearing crop tops and jeans, driving a car with my shades on, hair flowing in the wind, music blasting. But when I started at SCAD in 2011, it was the first time I felt truly free to express myself. I could wear what I wanted, show who I was, and be part of a community of artists, dreamers, and creators who accepted me without judgment.

At SCAD, I found myself surrounded by people who shared my passion for design, and I began to feel at home. Gradually, I started embracing the parts of myself that I’d kept hidden for so long, reconnecting with my Afghan roots. This transformation showed in my work, especially in my senior thesis, where I incorporated Afghani fashion elements to explore my heritage in a way that felt both modern and deeply personal.

By the time I graduated, I could feel myself stepping into a version of myself I had long denied. SCAD had become my family, and it gave me the courage to blend both sides of my identity. Returning in 2024 to represent our short documentary, “One Step Away,” felt like a true homecoming. SCAD didn’t just teach me about design — it helped me reclaim my identity and proudly express my culture, bridging the gap between the American girl I tried to become and the Afghan woman I am.

IW: What kind of input did you have with the filmmaking team about the look of “One Step Away”? There are moments when certain things are told almost in collage-style, like scrapbook elements you as a designer would compile for inspiration. This is your story, so I’m wondering how much you got to shape how it was told?

SPANTA: I had a lot of input in the making of “One Step Away,” in fact I was co-producer. It was a profound experience, shaped by two core principles: creating an authentic storyline and bringing a unique, artistic visual style to the documentary. From the start, our director and fellow SCAD alumni Leslie Merlin and I shared a vision to go beyond a typical Q&A format. We wanted a film that blended my personal story and designer background with her narrative expertise in film and TV, drawing on techniques she’d developed throughout her career. This was my first time co-producing, and her first time directing a documentary. Leslie and the entire SCAD team were incredibly supportive, giving me significant creative input to ensure my heritage and culture were represented in a way that felt honest and deeply personal.

I invested time gathering fragments of my life — photos, letters, and documents that told my story. I spoke with family and friends to refresh my memory, creating a timeline of key events and organizing emails, texts, and photos into an album that became our guide. When I met with the team, I introduced them to my world, highlighting the people and experiences that shaped me.

With this foundation, Leslie and the team crafted a narrative that seamlessly blended interviews, layered visuals, and graphics — piecing together memories like a scrapbook come to life. This collaboration was a true team effort, each phase carefully reviewed and refined by our editor Danielle Navish. I’m grateful to have had the final say in every round, ensuring that the film remained true to both my story and our shared vision.

IW: What about your experience at SCAD led you to believe, rightly, that it would be supportive enough to help get your sisters out of Afghanistan and then enroll them as architecture students?

SPANTA: To be honest, I didn’t have any expectations. But deep down, I knew to my core who SCAD is and the kind of leader we have in President Paula Wallace. I believed in her and the values she represents. During my four years at SCAD, I built a home, a community, and a family there. When the opportunity arose to seek help from my SCAD community to get my sisters out of Afghanistan and support their dreams of studying architecture, I didn’t hesitate. Our motto at SCAD is ‘Once a Bee, always a Bee,’ and I believe in that wholeheartedly. I am a living example of it. I have never been afraid to ask for help from my SCAD family because SCAD has fostered a culture of support, generosity, and unwavering care. It’s a university that believes in giving back and lifting each other up — and that’s exactly what it did for me and my sisters.

Sabrina Spanta, left, attends the 27th SCAD Savannah Film Festival on October 31, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia.Getty Images for SCAD

IW: Sabrina Spanta often describes SCAD as “a family.” How have you fostered a truly family-like atmosphere at SCAD? 

PRESIDENT PAULA WALLACE: When Sabrina wrote to me about her sisters’ dangerous, dire circumstances after America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, I knew SCAD had to step forward. After all, SCAD began with family, literally gathered around the kitchen table. My parents listened, believed, and invested in my dream to create an international university for the arts. They donated their life savings, as well as their retirement years, to help me create SCAD. My parents became surrogate grandparents to our students. They cared deeply — they checked in on students, made sure they were eating well, offered a listening ear, and always looked out for them. When international students couldn’t travel home for Thanksgiving, we set an extra plate and pulled up another chair for them, welcoming them to the Wallace table with conviviality, compassion, and cranberry sauce. I fondly recall many holidays with a dozen or more international SCAD students, experiencing their first of many American Thanksgivings (and their first, and maybe last, taste of carrot raisin salad).  

This enduring commitment to serving students — rooted in personal caring and shared experiences — defines SCAD’s history from the start. In 1980, this dedication brought SCAD leaders right to the doors of the White House. A prospective student from Venezuela sought admission, and after a lengthy approval process (accelerated only because one of my former elementary school student’s parents happened to work for one President Jimmy Carter) with the U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Postsecondary Education, Division of Eligibility and Agency Evaluation… SCAD was deemed “superior,” “well-conceived” and worthy of obtaining student visas for all future international applicants. I called the young Venezuelan with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart for all the artists from around the world yearning to launch their creative careers. They would find their home, their Hive, their family at SCAD.  

Today, SCAD continues to embrace all our students with a steadfast, warm circle of friendship and colleagues who become their chosen family, offering lifelong love and encouragement. Sometimes I feel like a mom to each of our 18,600+ students! Through the International Student Services Office, students receive tailored, one-on-one advising, access to hundreds of student clubs, and lively events that spark lifelong friendships and memories. I like to say that students don’t come to SCAD… families do.  

My concept of our international university family had its genesis in my pre-SCAD years teaching elementary school, with its frequent parent teacher conferences, PTA meetings, and open houses. I understand that the education of each student actually impacts profoundly all the people who love them. Parents sometimes feel so connected to SCAD, they enroll as students themselves!  

Today, Sabrina’s courageous sisters flourish as SCAD architecture students, surrounded by mentors, classmates, and opportunities galore that help them thrive. Sabrina, now a successful designer, radiates the strength of her family’s love — and that love has found a home at SCAD. 

IW: It’s unique for a university to tell the stories of its students and alumni quite the way SCAD does, with its own brand content studio run by SCAD alumni. How important is it to tell these stories? 

WALLACE: Respect and regard for each individual is central to SCAD’s character. Each person has an important story to tell, and we frequently honor the journeys of our community — SCAD’s award-winning filmmakers capture student and alumni stories with the power to move hearts, inspire minds, and shape culture. Passion projects like One Step Away, directed and produced by Leslie Merlin — a SCAD alum whose career spans Modern Family and Oscar-nominated films — showcase the resilience, talent, and humanity of our SCAD family. Leslie brought immense sensitivity to documenting Sabrina Spanta’s journey, reminding us of art’s role in spotlighting the truth and protecting the most vulnerable. 

All SCAD artists are highly accomplished, and no two follow the same path to success, as stories like Sabrina’s illustrate. From powerful documentaries, series like Dreamers & Makers, and so many alumni profile features, these testimonies connect SCAD’s community, inspire others, and showcase the impact SCAD artrepreneurs create every day. I’m honored to amplify SCAD Bees’ success and the exceptional work of SCAD’s pro filmmakers on the global stage of YouTube — witness these remarkable stories for yourself at @PaulaWallaceSCAD!