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social anxiety – katie-anne | CBC News


social anxiety – katie-anne | CBC News

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When Katie-Anne Tanasiciuk gets overwhelmed, anxious and stuck, she picks up a paintbrush.

“I know that when I’m making art, I can have a flow. It kind of unsticks me,” the 18-year old artist and film student said.

Tanasiciuk has had anxiety for as long as she can remember. At times, the condition has made regular tasks — such as riding the bus — deeply upsetting. Her anxiety also took shape in her art.

“There’s this huge, fleshy lump stuck to you — like, kind of on your shoulders — both weighing you down and guiding you. Kind of like, attached to you in your muscles and your tendons and your bones,” Tanasiciuk, a post-high school film student at the Sisler Create program, said.

A close-up portrait of a person with light skin and a serious expression looking off-camera. Superimposed over their face is a crude, red digital drawing with thick black outlines, featuring a single large eye.
In her imaginings, Katie-Anne Tanasiciuk’s anxiety takes the form of a ‘fleshy lump’ that attaches to her body, weighing and dragging her down. (Sisler Create)

Through her art, and by systematically taking little steps to address anxiety-provoking situations in daily life, Tanasiciuk made a big realization.

“I couldn’t go through life stuck at home just because of my fears,” she said.

Her anxiety monster and how she overcomes fear are the subject of a self-produced video by Tanasiciuk and her classmates at Sisler.

Along with Tanasiciuk, film students Jolyne Toderian, Whydah Marley and Chantelle Roderiguez also produced the new short video.

Click the player above to watch it.

Meet the filmmakers

Head and shoulders portrait of young woman with short, brown hair. She is wearing a black and grey striped button down shirt with patches on it.
Katie-Anne Tanasiciuk is a passionate young artist, able to recall years of her life by which Halloween costume she made that year. Her mother says she was making art since she could hold a paintbrush. Though her greatest works are in the realm of physical art, she finds great joy in editing, writing, and some animation on the side. In hot pursuit of everything there is to learn, she’s in awe of every facet of filmmaking. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of a young, Caucasian woman with long, curly blond hair. She is wearing a plum-coloured T-shirt.
Jolyne Toderian, a transgender film student, has been enraptured by the visual medium of film since childhood. She started making music videos for her father in her youth. She hopes to combine her love for video and storytelling and ultimately become a cinematographer. A fantasy writer and Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast on the side, she has a fondness for spending time with friends, and even more time with her gaming PC. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of young Filipino woman with long, blond straight hair. She is wearing a black top with gold ring accents.
Whydah Marley has always loved documenting life’s moments, a passion that naturally led her into filmmaking. She sees film as a way to capture emotions, tell stories and preserve memories. She enjoys getting lost in music and art. Her curiosity and time with loved ones inspire the everyday moments at the heart of her storytelling. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of young woman with long, straight black hair. She has braces on her teeth and is wearing a V-neck T-shirt.
Chantelle Rodriguez is a proud Filipino who graduated from Sisler High School. She has had a long-standing passion for filmmaking since middle school, specifically editing and cinematography. Beyond filmmaking, she also enjoys photography to capture meaningful memories, and scrapbooking to enhance her creativity. (Sisler Create)

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba’s Project POV: Sisler Create is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC Manitoba journalists to produce short docs. You can see past projects here. 

The Winnipeg School Division’s Create program is hosted at Sisler High School and trains post-high students in the creative digital arts.

During fall 2025, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking students and led producing workshops at Sisler.

Create focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.