Schindel has a 1939 B.S. from Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania and a 1949 M.S. from Teachers College, New York, having taken audio-visual courses on subjects ranging from projection techniques to a Margaret Mead-taught course on propaganda and mass media. In 1948, he began working on films for Teaching Films Inc., which soon would declare bankruptcy. As part of the settlement, Schindel retained the rights to six of the films on which he'd worked, and formed his own company, Key Productions. Godfey Elliott's Young America Films then contracted with Schindel to distribute Key films and make new films on standard topics (e.g. WHAT MAKES THINGS FLOAT, 1951). The filmmaker meanwhile had noticed that children who read books in libraries rarely selected "Dick and Jane", but instead gravitated toward colorful picture books. He approached Elliott with the idea of animated picture book films as a new method of teaching reading, but was rebuffed. Schindel soon left for a two-year stint with the United States Information Service in Turkey, where he made films -- primarily on health and cultural issues -- and traveled by jeep as part of a mobile film presentation unit, equipped with generators to power projectors in the numerous villages without electricity. After returning to the United States, Schindel, in 1954, produced the first Weston Woods picture book film, and in 1964, made his first animated film, THE SNOWY DAY. For the next several decades, Weston Woods would produce hundreds of titles, including works by authors such as Robert McCloskey, Tomi Ungerer, and Maurice Sendak. One of Weston Woods' most memorable films was SORCERER'S APPRENTICE (1962, dir. Edward English), in which artist Lisl Weil, fresh from her performance at Lincoln Center, drew larger-than-life characters in different colored chalks while aggressively dancing to the Dukas score. Perhaps the strongest films produced by Schindel were the "Signature Series", in which the people involved in creating these films, from artists, to directors, to producers, were shown animating, reading, and discussing their works. In MORTON SCHINDEL: FROM PAGES TO SCREEN (1981), the producer discusses the painstaking steps of the picture book-to-film process, from selecting artists who stylistically mirror the original artwork, to the spoken aspect, including a scene showing author/illustrator/filmmaker Gerald McDermott narrating his ARROW TO THE SUN (1973, Texture Films). Possibly the most thought-provoking in all the series was the droll interview done by director Gene Deitch with children's illustrator and author Tomi Ungerer (an exceptionally funny and poignant artist in the adult erotic genre as well) in which the artist conveys the joy children express in being scared, and the value of occasional childhood loneliness (TOMI UNGERER, STORYTELLER, 1981). Morton Schindel founded the Weston Woods Institute in 1983. The non-profit organization is dedicated to supporting innovative techniques for education and cultural communications with children. As founder of Weston Woods Studios, Morton Schindel produced 300 motion pictures, 450 sound film strips, recordings and videos. Schindel sold Westin Woods Films to Scholastic Incorporated in 1996 to devote his time to the non-profit West Woods Institute. He is also the founder of Mediamobiles. He designed the first mediamobiles as showcases for Weston Woods films. He has received many honors, including a special citation by the Association for Library Services to Children in 2000 and a Distinguished Alumni award by Teachers College, Columbia University in 1994. Some of Schindel's other producing credits include "Circus Baby" (1956, TV), THE DOUGHNUTS (1963), OBRI (1969, co-producer), HAROLD'S FAIRY TALE (1974), THE CASE OF THE COSMIC COMIC (1976), DOCTOR DESOTO and "Corcuroy" (TV, exec. prod.) (both 1984), and "The Great White Man-Eating Shark" (1992, video, exec. prod.).  Nominated for Short Films (Animated Films) 1984: DOCTOR DE SOTO - Producer (w. Michael Sporn) 1 nomination