Changing connect-assets lookup path

If I execute my expressjs app like so node app.js everything works fine however when I execute it like node path/app.js it starts looking for public assets from the execution location.

How can I change the path?

app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')) doesn't seem to be doing anything

The error I get:

Asset 'styles.css' not found in search path:
    /path/public/css
    /path/public/js