When Courtney Bent began searching for exhibit space for nine people with cerebral palsy and other significant disabilities she'd taught to use cameras, she met with serious skepticism. One gallery director came right out and said, "Who's going to want to see this?"

Who indeed.

The work of those nine newly minted photographers has been viewed across the country during the past few months thanks to the documentary Shooting Beauty, directed by Bent's husband, George Kachadorian. The film, which chronicles Bent's work at the United Cerebral Palsy Day Experience Program in Watertown, Mass., has won numerous audience choice awards on the festival circuit and inspired hundreds of people - many of them middle and high school students - to volunteer at day centers for people with disabilities. Kachadorian is in talks with distribution companies for a full-scale release, and just this week, Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines signed on to be the film's official presenter.

The Durham couple are at times astounded by the project's success. There were many times along the way that they battled the same kind of doubts as the blunt-speaking gallery director. But from the beginning, Bent's photography program and Kachadorian's film seemed to have their own momentum.

"We both knew that we were onto something," said Kachadorian, who will attend a screening of the film at NHTI tomorrow night at 7. "There was just no stopping."

Bent, a professional photographer who grew up in the fashion industry, first met some of the film's subjects more than 10 year ago, while photographing an event in a Boston convention center. The film opens with her explaining her attraction to the group.

"I'm looking at these people and I'm thinking, 'that's kind of scary to me,' " says Bent, who had always felt like a misfit in the glamorous world of fashion. "I was curious - what was it like for someone to live in a world where they really don't fit in?"

Bent visited the day program the next day and took a few snapshots. But she didn't feel like the pictures accurately depicted the people she met. That's when she had the idea to put cameras in their hands.

It wasn't an easy task. The film shows Bent moving among the group trying to devise ways for them to use the cheap cameras she purchased for them: "Can you move this hand at all? . . . which finger works?"

For one participant who couldn't use his hands, Bent used Velcro and duct tape to invent a camera he could operate with his chin.

In other cases, the barriers were more emotional than physical. One man, Tom Herrick, remained on the sidelines even as Bent began spending more and more time with the day program. "What a waste of film, Courtney," he'd say when she snapped his picture.

But Bent persevered, and when she finally got a camera into Herrick's hands, it was nothing short of life-changing for him.

Kachadorian, who was dating Bent at the time, could see that the work was changing her life, too. He had filmed her visits from the first day, and though he had his share of misgivings about the undertaking, he couldn't help getting caught up in her enthusiasm.

"I became kind of the coach on the sidelines," he said.

Kachadorian was surprised by the same thing that surprises many viewers: How much optimism sprang from the film. "There was so much joy and laughter in that environment," he said.

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