In 1997 , she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project , an educational curriculum devoted to better understanding Native Americans . She has won recognition and many awards and honours for both her music and her work in education and social activism . She won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 55th Academy Awards for co-writing the song " Up Where We Belong " from the film , '' An Officer and a Gentleman '' . She was the first and still is the only indigenous person to have won an Academy Award
55th Academy Awards
55th Academy Awards
Buffy Sainte-Marie