If You Build It
Two activists go to the poorest county in North Carolina to work with high school students and help transform their community. Fighting a change-resistant school board, they lead their students through a year-long project that shows ten teenagers the power of design-thinking to re-invent their town and their own sense of what’s possible.
Girl Rising
The stories of 9 extraordinary girls from 9 countries, written by 9 celebrated writers and narrated by 9 renowned actresses. Showcasing the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world.
On The Way To School
The children depicted in this film live in the four corners of the globe and all share the same desire to learn. They’ve understood that only education will allow them to improve their lives, and it’s for this reason that, each day, they set out on highly risky journeys, through extraordinary landscapes, on their quest for knowledge.
Food Inc.
Lifting the veil on the American food industry. Exposing how the nation’s food supply is controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and the environment. Food, Inc. reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat.
Food Matters
Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide sickness industry and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for curing disease naturally. The focus of the film is in helping us rethink the belief systems fed to us by our modern medical and health care establishments.
Serving life
Executive produced by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, this film takes viewers inside a Louisiana maximum security prison (average sentence is more than 90 years) and documents an extraordinary hospice program where hardened criminals care for their dying fellow inmates. In doing so, they embark on a journey that may end in personal rehabilitation.
The Dharma Brothers
A psychotherapist’s intensive meditation retreats for inmates at a maximum-security prison in Alabama. The 10-day retreats are conducted in total silence. Explores the lives of four convicted murderers before, during and after the arduous retreats, as well as reactions from residents of a nearby town, many of whom object to the program on religious or social grounds.
I Am
The story of a successful Hollywood director, Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Nutty Professor, Bruce Almighty), who experienced a life threatening head injury, and his ensuing journey to try and answer two very basic questions: What’s wrong with our world? and What can we do about it?
Finding Joe
While studying world mythology, Joseph Campbell discovered a pattern hidden in every story ever told. He called it “the hero’s journey.” This film explores how the hero’s journey is relevant and essential in today’s world. It provides a narrative for how to live a fully realized life or, as Campbell would simply state, how to “follow your bliss.”
Extreme Pilgrim
A British television series presented by Anglican vicar, Pete Owen-Jones, who researches and attempts to practice a variety of the world’s methods of enlightenment and spirituality, which he sees as having been lost by those in the West.
Happy
A journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what really makes people happy. Combining real life stories of people from around the world and powerful interviews with the leading scientists in happiness research, Happy explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion.
Hellbound?
For many people, belief in hell as a place of eternal torment for the wicked is an indisputable tenet of Christian orthodoxy. But a growing number of believers disagree. They argue that we can have a loving God or we can have eternal hell, but we can’t have both. Hellbound? is a provocative, critically acclaimed documentary that wades right into the center of this debate.
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Exploration of the remarkable mysteries of the cosmos and our place within it. Hosted by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, this 13-part adventure will transport you across the universe of space and time, bringing to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and a deeper understanding of nature.
Planet Earth
A television experience that captures rare action, impossible locations and intimate moments with our planet’s best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, this series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the daily struggle for survival in Earth’s most extreme habitats.
The White Helmets (Netflix only)
After five years of war, over 400,000 syrians have been killed and millions have fled their homes. In areas out of regime control, those who remain rely on a group of volunteers dedicated to saving anyone in need. They search for survivors among the wreckage as bombs continue to fall
The Drop Box
One frigid winter, a pastor finds an abandoned infant on his church steps and builds a heated hatch to rescue any others. This documentary tells the true story of South Korean pastor Lee Jong-rak and his heroic efforts to embrace and protect abandoned children. It is a story about the forgotten, the disabled, the discarded, and the man who gives everything to protect them.
Alive Inside
This documentary follows social worker as he fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it. Offers illuminating interviews with experts including renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks. An uplifting exploration of music and the mind.
Brains On Trial
Details breaking neuroscience research that could within a few years begin to find its way into courtrooms. And it poses the controversial question: How should our rapidly expanding ability to peer into people’s minds and decode their thoughts and feelings affect the criminal justice system?
Paratodos
To some people, overrun is not an option or a heroic act, it’s just the start. This documentary takes an affectionate look at the strength, humor and heartaches of eight Brazilian Paralympic athletes since the 2012 London games.
Poverty Inc.
Exploring the hidden side of doing good. From adoptions to agricultural subsidies, Poverty, Inc. follows the butterfly effect of our most well-intentioned efforts and pulls back the curtain on the poverty industrial complex. Are we catalyzing development or are we propagating a system in which the poor stay poor while the rich get hipper?
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book and national best seller of the same name. Professor Jared Diamond traveled the globe for over 30 years trying to answer the biggest question of world history. Why is the world so unequal? The answers he found were simple yet extraordinary. Our destiny depends on geography and access to: Guns, Germs, and Steel.
P.S. If you decide to buy anything through Amazon using the links in this article you will be helping to support the Personal Growth publication. Thank you for your support. Most of the documentaries listed above are films I have watched or would like to watch. Are there any you think should be added?
Volunteer to give a speech, or for career day at a local high school.
