Once called “the miracle on the beach,”  Synanon began in the 1960s as an experimental rehab facility in Santa  Monica, California with a radical  claim: It could cure heroin addiction. Before long, it would make an  even bolder claim: It could cure any of your problems. All you had to do  was move in. What started in a house on the beach, soon spread to  compounds across the country. The man who made the  miracle happen, Charles E. Dederich, aka “Chuck,” would be the one to  destroy it all, along with the lives of many of his followers and  millions of dollars in assets. The Sunshine Place tells the  mind-blowing, true-story of Synanon - one of America’s most  cutting edge social experiments, turned into one of its most dangerous  and violent cults - as it’s never been told before: by the people who  lived it. Executive Produced by Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and  Emily Barclay Ford for Team Downey and C13Originals,  together with Josh McLaughlin for Wink Pictures and written, produced,  and directed by Peabody-nominated C13Originals, a Cadence13 Studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices