The Kaufmans are the authors of 12 books on The Option Process® and The Son-Rise Program® including Happiness Is A Choice, Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues, To Love Is To Be Happy With and PowerDialoguesSM. There are over three million copies of their books in print, in 22 languages, in over 65 countries. Bears and Samahria Kaufman founded the Option Indigo Press to spread their message of love, acceptance and empowerment through the Option Process and The Son-Rise Program throughout the world.

Bears and Samahria started teaching The Option Process in 1972 and 11 years later established The Option Institute, which has grown to a 100-acre campus with a full-time staff of over 80 dedicated individuals, offering programs to thousands of adults and more than 20,000 families of children with special needs.

They are also the originators of The Son-Rise Program, created when their own son, Raun, was diagnosed as severely and incurably autistic. The Kaufmans' groundbreaking program transformed Raun from a mute, withdrawn child with an I.Q. of less than 30, into a highly verbal, socially interactive boy with a near-genius I.Q. Bearing no traces of his former condition, Raun graduated from an Ivy League university and went on to become the director of an educational center for school-aged children. Now the CEO of The Option Institute, he teachers on campus in addition to lecturing at universities, conferences and symposia worldwide. Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues, the story of the Kaufmans' work with their son, became a best-selling book and award-winning NBC-TV movie, which has been viewed by 300 million people worldwide.

In the last seven years, individuals from 78 different countries on six continents have attended programs at The Option Institute.

The Option Institute and the Kaufmans have been featured in over 2000 articles and programs published or broadcast in major media. Among them are The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los-Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Reader's Digest, Good Morning America and in interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue and others.

The Kaufmans' books and works have been endorsed by such well-respected figures as President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Carl Rogers, Deepak Chopra, Bernie Siegal, Norman Cousins, Lou Holtz, John Bradshaw, Bill Cosby, Harold S. Kushner, Dr. Carl Simonton, Joanne Woodward, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Paul Winter.

"The search for peace in the world must start within the human heart and within our own families. Barry Neil Kaufman understands that. By personal example and through his writing and counseling, he gives a compelling vision for the building of inner and outer peace." -- President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

If there were a Nobel Prize for love, I'd want the Kaufmans to be the first to receive one. -- Dr. Wayne Dyer, Author, Change Your Thoughts — Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

Barry Neil Kaufman champions making the choice to believe in ourselves, to be hopeful and seize the power of loving ourselves and others. -- Lou Holtz, Head Football Coach, University of Notre Dame

Inspiring, groundbreaking and visionary. Barry Neil Kaufman's work is the science of love, compassion and insight which will transform the world. -- Deepak Chopra M.D., Author, Quantum Healing

I have long admired the work of Barry Neil Kaufman. He reveals the options and choices we can all make to find the road to happiness. Simple and effective for all. -- Bernie Siegel M.D., Author, Love, Medicine, and Miracles

Barry Neil Kaufman's work affirms the unlimited potential of the human spirit and offers hope to those who have been challenged by adversity. --Coretta Scott King, Founder, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change