LOS ANGELES — Out of 974 statewide entries, 16 LA County students were finalists in a film contest to raise awareness about mental health. 

Nearly 2,000 students created short films and art projects about suicide prevention and mental health for the contest hosted by a program called Directing Change.

One of the finalists is Erin Murphy, a Claremont High School sophomore. At just 16 years old, Murphy has already learned one of life's most important lessons: You can't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. 

It's the title and her motivation behind the video she created for the Directing Change contest.

Murphy said she was inspired by her own experience of feeling judged as she struggled through depression, anxiety and an eating disorder.

"I think it was difficult because I felt, kind of, like I was alone, and I felt like no one really understood what I was going through," Murphy explained.

Murphy said her mental health deteriorated so severely in 8th grade that she left school to go to a nine-month treatment center. It saved her life, but Murphy's peers would make hurtful comments about her eating lunch with the school nurse, not knowing the daily fight she was battling against anorexia when she returned to high school. 

"That's another example of people thinking, 'Why is that girl eating lunch with the nurse? You know, like what the heck?'" Murphy said. 

It's part of the reason why the pandemic was a welcomed break for Murphy. She's back in class now with the video production teacher that helped her submit her video to the contest. Ms. Sara Hills is moved to tears by her progress. 

"Because I remember what it's like being a kid," she said.

That's the whole purpose of Directing Change, co-founder Stan Collins said.

He launched it nine years ago to teach students about mental health by creating space to find their voice while making these films. 

Statistics show 13% of youth, ages 12 to 17, report suffering from at least one major depressive episode in the past year.

With the pandemic, social unrest and so many other weights to carry, Stan said the submissions they've received from students across California this year are different than any other. 

"It's been really fascinating for us to, kind of, dive into where the youth are at in their minds and their souls and to hear their stories and their experiences. So many themes of the films this year talked about what life in quarantine was like, how they were dealing with it when they felt like the world around them was falling apart," Collins said.

But what he found most inspiring of nearly a thousand entries was that almost all of them had an underlying message of hope.

Murphy, too, is now spreading hope with her new school club called Beauty undefined that helps struggling students, she said. 

"It's really inspired me to keep going to keep fighting some of these mental illnesses," she said.

She's using her own story as the prime example that even when one can't see it, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Although Murphy did not win in the final statewide round of the contest, several students in Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange counties took home first, second, and third. 

To watch those videos, visit the Directing Change website.