Third Eye Butterfly is a double 16mm projection piece in which the two screens – at times divided into additional “mini-screens” within - create textured kaleidoscopic effects, combining to form a third wider frame, encouraging the viewer to extend their vision beyond ordinary sight. Casey Charness of Columbia University has said of the film that it "encourages the mind to work as a third eye by fusing the two side-by-side screens into a third meaning, just as Eisenstein caused the meanings of two juxateposed shots to result in a third implied meaning."

De Hirsch herself described Third Eye Butterfly as follows: "Where is the light coming from? The flavor of the colors are succulent to the long vision in the soul. How can dust cover the arrows of light? How can darkness favor oblivion in the face of light? The variations of soul-touch exist in the auras of illuminations. The Great Eye dominates."

Storm de Hirsch (1912–2000) was an American filmmaker, poet and painter. She was a key figure in the New York avant-garde film scene of the 1960s, and one of the founding members of the Film-Makers' Cooperative. Despite her extensive presence and influence in the avant-garde film scene of New York in the 1960's, De Hirsch's work and history has largely remained obscure, though in recent she has gained wider recognition. De Hirsch's pioneering films often involve direct scratching, colouring, etching, painting on film and animation applied to imagery shot in everyday life.

“I don't want to put any labels on my films… I never impose on you; you need to find what you have to find.” – Storm De Hirsch