Opinion - After a documentary aired on TVNZ last night, viewers should not confuse the Centrepoint commune's promiscuous lifestyle with polyamory, Anke Richter writes.
Local documentary Heaven and Hell tells story of Centrepoint commune stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TVNZ
Local documentary Heaven And Hell - The Centrepoint Story takes an in-depth look at a controversial commune that began in the late 1970s.
Children picked through boxes of clothes to find something to wear each day. There were no walls enclosing the bathrooms and the toilets sat mere feet apart. Women gave birth in a meeting hall with everyone present and adults shed their clothes to prove their willingness to shed their inhibitions. Any sense of privacy or autonomy was stripped from the residents of Centrepoint. It was supposed to be an open environment where everything was shared, but what began as a therapy-based commune devolved into a place where the sexual abuse of children, drug use and manufacture was rampant under the leadership of Bert Potter.