The Option Institute® International Learning and Training Center,
We have helped thousands of people live their very best lives, heightening day-to-day happiness, deepening their closest relationships, increasing inner strength and personal effectiveness, and overcoming life’s biggest challenges.
Since 1983, our unique training courses and individual support services have helped people from over 140 countries to master challenges they have felt plagued with for years.
Founders
The Option Institute® International Learning and Training Center was founded in 1983 by Barry (“Bears”) Neil Kaufman and his wife Samahria Lyte Kaufman who actively taught in many of the programs offered by the institute until September, 2025. Barry Neil Kaufman is the best-selling author of 12 books (one written jointly with his wife) on The Option Process® and The Son-Rise Program®, including Happiness Is A Choice, Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues, and PowerDialogues. There are over three million copies of their books in print in over 65 countries. The Kaufmans are two-time recipients of the Christopher Award and, additionally, received the prestigious Humanitas Prize for their screenwriting of The NBC TV movie, Son-Rise: The Miracle of Love because it inspired audiences to believe in the dignity and inspiration of humanity.
Bears and Samahria started teaching The Option Process in 1972 and 11 years later established The Option Institute, offering personal development workshops to adults as well as counselling services for individuals dealing with trauma. The Option Institute is situated on an expansive 100-acre campus on a Berkshire mountainside in Massachusetts. In the past 40 years, we have worked with thousands upon thousands of individuals, families, and children from over 140 different countries. In 2020, the Institute migrated to presenting E-Learning Training Courses, year round, to audiences throughout the world.
Additionally, The Kaufmans are also the originators of The Son-Rise Program®, which is taught at the Autism Treatment Center of America®, a division of the Option Institute®. The Son-Rise Program methodology evolved when their son, Raun, was diagnosed with having a severe and incurable case of Autism. Refusing to give up on their son’s future, Bears and Samahria worked with Raun for over 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for more than three years, resulting in his full recovery from Autism. Raun went on to graduate from an Ivy League university, became the director of an educational center for school-aged children and for a period of time taught and assumed directorial roles at the Institute. Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues, the story of the Kaufmans’ work with Raun, became a bestselling book and the award-winning NBC TV movie based on this book was viewed worldwide.
In addition to raising their three biological children, they chose to adopt three more children from circumstances of trauma, as a way to express their gratitude for what they had learned in their journey with Raun. One of their adopted sons
had been seriously malnourished, resulting in physiological, motor and other challenges. Bears and Samahria worked with him and he thrived, demonstrating a keen mind and a wonderful ability to learn. Another son, whose mother had died and who had his throat slit by his birth father, found support, guidance and love in the expanding Kaufman family. Their adoption of an eleven-year-old girl from El Salvador, also a trauma survivor, completed their immediate family. The Kaufmans have passed this tradition on to their own children, some of who have adopted children from similar situations, further expanding their multi-racial, multi-cultural family.
Bears and Samahria Kaufman have been featured in over 2,000 articles and in programs published and broadcast in major media including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Parenting Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Good Morning America and in interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue among others.
The Kaufmans’ books and works have been endorsed by well-respected figures including President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Carl Rogers, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Bernie Siegel, Norman Cousins, Lou Holtz, John Bradshaw, and Harold S. Kushner.
Bears says of his life’s work…
“For Samahria and me, we clearly see our personal challenges as gifts to help us grow stronger and to create more love and sustained happiness in our lives. Our life’s work has allowed us the privilege, honor, and blessing to be able to help others facing their own challenges. Not just to teach them how to find their own best solutions to adversity and the surprises of life, but also to teach them a solid methodology and attitude they can implement to fill their own lives with a sense of ease, self-trust, empowerment and happiness. The title of my book, Happiness Is A Choice, speaks to the heart of what’s possible – to choose happiness and love even during tough times.”
Testimonials for Barry (Bears) Neil Kaufman &
Samahria Lyte Kaufman
- Testimonials for Bears Kaufman -
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
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
They should win a Nobel Prize for love.
Dr. Wayne Dyer
Ph.D., Author, The Power of Intention
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
- Testimonials for Samahria Kaufman -
Samahria Kaufman is a perceptive, wise, patient and inspiring woman, a bright light whose presence is tremendously healing and comforting to every person she touches. Her passionate love for her autistic son, moved her to create and tirelessly continue the innovative process that has healed so many children and their parents for decades. Offering the same deep acceptance she utilized in dealing with autistic children in teaching adults, she changed my life forever. By modeling acceptance, she taught me how to love myself and others.
Jane Wyker
Family Counselor, New York
To have this fabulous, fiesty little lady who founded this whole earth-shattering program come bursting into our living room on Tuesday morning had an astonishing, uplifting impact on our week. Her warmth, her wisdom, her wit and humor, her insight, her common sense, and that unforgettable laugh! She filled the room with enriching energy, practical advice, and sheer fun.
Jack Burnicle
Son-Rise Program Dad, United Kingdom
Samahria, through her passion and love for teaching The Son-Rise Program, has enabled me to reach my son Blake at a level of complete love, acceptance, language and communication. Her wisdom, humor and dedication has helped my son Blake, 12, be able to talk, laugh, sing and see the world as an exciting and caring world something that he now takes part in. Samahria is a true beacon of what love is about and it shows in every breath of her being. Blake will now attend public school thanks to her love and dedication.
Leanne Dole
Homemaker, Australia
Such a model of love, kindness, laughter, joy, connection, incredible caring – she sweeps you forward with a soft but powerful strength – she adds so much at just the right time, exuberantly and so appropriately. What a spirit! What a contribution!
Keith Garrick
Financial Planner, California
The warmth of a mother and the wisdom of a sage.
Lejla Somun-Krupalija
Manager /Lecturer, Bosnia
You are an exceptional woman! What a shining example of strength and love and humanness. I look forward to connecting deeper with you.
Shayu Talbot
Community Service Worker and Counselor, Canada