Kris Bowers is on a mission to ensure students access quality instruments. And now his efforts have earned him an Oscar.

At the 96th Academy Awards, Bowers and fellow director Ben Proudfoot won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short for "The Last Repair Shop." The film revolves around a downtown warehouse where four craftspeople maintain over 80,000 student instruments in good repair.

After receiving their award onstage, Bowers and Proudfoot spoke to BET.com about their win and the significance of art education.

"We're living in pretty traumatic times and spending less than 30 seconds on Instagram I can feel pretty anxious and depressed," Bowers said. "And you have so many kids that don't have the tools to process those feelings.

He continued, "The arts are an incredibly important vehicle to communicate through these times."

"We hope young people will put down their phones and pick up a saxophone, added Proudfoot.

“The Last Repair Shop” can be streamed on Disney+ and Hulu. It can also be viewed on The Times’ YouTube channel and the latimes.com and  L.A. Times Short Docs series.