Words of encouragement from the director of Up and Monsters Inc.

Back in 2009 before Pixar's Up hit theaters, a middle school teacher named Martin Kelsey wrote to Up (and Monsters Inc.) director Pete Docter asking him for advice that he can then pass on to his students. What followed was this fantastic letter from Docter that talks about how he stuck by his love of animation, first in high school, and then in CalArts, where he felt like the worst animator at the school. But he persevered, and remained involved in the animation world by working on his friends' films and his own films, eventually landing a gig at Pixar, where he worked on Toy Story and Toy Story 2, and then got to direct his first film withMonsters, Inc.