When 17-year-old Ayanda Chisholm looks at who is represented in mainstream media, she sees a number of groups missing, including people of color, women, the LGBT community and people with disabilities.

So as an aspiring filmmaker, she wants to make sure their stories will be told.

“I would like to add perspectives that have not been shown,” she said.

Chisholm, who graduated from Garfield High School in Seattle but is currently staying in Redmond before she moves to New York to attend the Digital Film Academy, was recently named an Adobe Creativity Scholar (ACS) and received a scholarship to help her further her studies. She was one of 25 students worldwide to receive the honor for 2015.

As an application for the scholarship, Chisholm submitted a number of short films she had produced through Reel Grrls, a non-profit organization in West Seattle that focuses on empowering young women from diverse communities to realize their power, talent and influence through media production.

The piece that was chosen and honored from Chisholm’s submission is called “Black Beauty in the White Gaze.” The film is about a minute long and she said it examines black beauty and how it fits into the world’s more Euro-centric (white) definition of beauty.

Patricia Cogley — manager of the Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) program (which ACS is an extension of) — has been in the youth media field for 15 years and said Chisholm’s piece talks about representations of beauty in a beautiful and stark way. Cogley added that Chisholm also understands the power of imagery.

“Her piece really did stand out,” she said. “It’s a really great piece.”

Cogley said ACS is for students who have participated in AYV programs such as Reel Grrls. The scholarship provides opportunities for young people who are committed to pursuing a life where “creativity is vital to their career path,” she said.

Youth are encouraged to create media addressing topics they are passionate about, which can range from the environment and family to identity and race.

Cogley added that they also encourage the organizations to showcase participants’ work at events such as screenings, in order to start a dialogue within the communities.

AYV serves about 50,000 young people per year in about 60 countries worldwide. The programs are for teens 13-19 and those who have left the programs are eligible to apply for the ACS scholarship.

Cogley said the scholarship is to go toward higher education. Adobe contributes $1 million to the scholarship fund and the amount recipients receive range as college and university tuition around the world varies. Cogley added applicants must be in good academic standing and prove financial hardship as well.

For Chisholm, applying for the scholarship couldn’t hurt.

“College is expensive and I figured, why not?” she asked.