American Indians Seek More Say in Film, TV : Communication: Institute of American Indian Arts offers American Indian students unique hands-on training as writers, directors and producers.

With seven Academy Awards now added to the public acclaim for “Dances With Wolves” and its sympathetic portrait of American Indians, it’s easy to forget that their screen portrayal in movies and TV programs over the years has had more to do with the perceptions of non-Indian writers and directors than with how Indians see themselves.

George Burdeau would like to change that. As head of the communications arts department at the Institute of American Indian Arts here, he offers Indian students unique hands-on training as writers, directors and producers.

“We’ve felt for a long time the system was not geared to the cultural perspective of Native Americans,” said Burdeau, a 20-year veteran of public and commercial television. “We really have not had access to the medium for our own use, as well as for communicating with the rest of the world.”

The answer is for Indians to play a more prominent role in making film and television productions, Burdeau said. “We’ve decided the only way to do that is to show we really do have the ability,” he says.

Burdeau said that he believes Indian filmmakers, coming from a long performance tradition, will bring a fresh viewpoint to both historical and contemporary issues.

“It doesn’t mean Indian people are just going to make Indian films and tell Indian stories,” he said. “I think there’s a cultural perspective here that has something to offer in the way of communication.”

Finding a place for Indians in a competitive, high-pressure industry is an ambitious undertaking, but Burdeau, 47, is well-equipped for the task.

Since taking over the fledgling department two years ago, he has won a 10-year contract with the U.S. Census Bureau for his students to handle all of its promotional activities and worked out a deal to develop promotional materials and create a logo for the fund-raising office of the newly created National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Burdeau and his students also have undertaken joint documentary and dramatic productions with several public-television stations, including WGBH in Boston and KCET in Los Angeles, and he recently was asked to develop a series on Indian history for PBS.

“When the students get out in a real working situation, they realize the importance of understanding the technical side of film and video work,” he said. “We’re showing that we can do good work.”

The contracts also provide a badly needed infusion of cash to build the program, which now enrolls 40 to 50 students a semester and costs about $300,000 a year to run, Burdeau said. In 10 years, Burdeau hopes to see the program evolve into a production center equipped with cutting-edge technology.

Burdeau oversees the department from a Spartan suite of offices in an old Army barracks (a step up from the cramped quarters in the basement of an administration building where the program started). It’s a five-minute walk across campus to the battered prefab buildings that house classrooms and editing booths.

The surroundings are less glamorous than the Hollywood production facilities where Burdeau spent 10 years as a producer for shows such as “Entertainment Tonight” and “That’s Incredible!” and as a director of “Afterschool Specials” for ABC, but he is happy to be back at the school where he studied painting and sculpture nearly 30 years ago.

Burdeau, who is half Blackfoot and half French-Canadian, grew up on the Blackfoot reservation in northwestern Montana. He arrived at the Institute in 1962, the year it was established by the federal government under the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He worked as a museum illustrator for several years after graduating, later attending film school. During the 1970s, Burdeau worked for public-TV stations in Spokane, Wash., Green Bay, Wis., and Chicago, spending much of his time making documentaries on reservations.

Burdeau moved to Hollywood in 1980 and became a member of the Directors Guild of America, but after nearly 10 years decided he’d had enough of the hectic life and relocated to Santa Fe to teach at the institute and resume painting and drawing.

As a fledgling filmmaker, Burdeau was a rarity. “When I started 20 years ago, there were five Native Americans in the whole United States involved in video work of any kind,” he says. He estimates there are now more than 200 Native American writers, technicians and performers.

Native Americans have not made many inroads into the industry because they often are uncomfortable with its competitiveness and because they are regarded as lacking in technical ability, Burdeau said.

“It’s not an overt racism, but it’s one of those racist situations where the image of the Indian is of a noble savage who knows only about nature,” he said. “It’s such a hostile environment for Native American people to survive in.”

Burdeau said that his mixed parentage proved to be an advantage in his career.

“A lot of people didn’t see me as being specifically Native American,” Burdeau said. “I could travel between both worlds a lot easier than other Indian people have in the past.”

Given his high-energy career, it’s ironic that Burdeau strongly believes Indians have something to teach a stressed-out society. He’d like to see his students bring their native values of balance and harmony to the film and television industry.

“From a cultural standpoint, it’s important to be a balanced person,” he said. “We are desensitized as a result of the technology we have in our workplace today.”

Burdeau also said that he believes Indians have a historical perspective that ought to be explored. The need is more evident than ever as the nation prepares in 1992 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, Burdeau said.

“I grew up thinking Columbus was this guy who came to the Americas and was sort of a benign individual who kind of fell into this thing,” Burdeau said. But he’s learned the reality was different. “The conquistadors were literally just tyrants,” he said. “They were out to exploit anything and everything.”

Last year, Burdeau produced and directed “Surviving Columbus,” a documentary for New Mexico public TV that chronicled the brutal behavior of the first Spanish explorers in the Southwest, as recounted in Zuni Indian oral traditions. That film, which employed a number of his students, may serve as the pilot for a proposed PBS series.

“A lot of history we need to look at, not to indict anyone, but simply to understand things better,” Burdeau said.