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American Documentary works with public television stations and national and local organizations and educators to use independent documentary films to raise public awareness of and inspire local action around important social issues.

What We Do

At American Documentary | P.O.V., we know that community involvement with P.O.V. films begins before the national broadcast on PBS and extends well beyond. We work with national, regional and local organizations and PBS stations to organize screenings and events around P.O.V. films. We also produce resources that help organizations engage communities in dynamic conversations about our world and to inspire local action around important social issues. These materials include free facilitators' guides, discussion guides, lesson plans and multimedia resource lists produced in conjunction with PBS Teachers, educational professionals, librarians, issue-area experts, and advisory boards.

How to Get Involved

If you are an educator, community organization leader or member, librarian, young person, PBS station staffer or other community based person and would like to receive updates about upcoming films and resources, help spread the word about a broadcast by joining our "tune-in" list, host a screening or continue the dialogue around a film's issues, please register online.

Companion Materials

Facilitator/Discussion Guides
Want to learn how to organize an event? Get tips on facilitation? Learn more about the issues addressed in a film? Check out our facilitator and discussion guides for tips on how to host an event and keep the conversation going.

Lesson Plans
Educators! P.O.V. collaborates with PBS Teachers to produce lesson plans for teachers interested in using films as teaching tools in a variety of school subject areas, including math, environmental health, science, social studies, U.S. history and government and language arts.

Delve Deepers
P.O.V. and the American Library Association (ALA) have an ongoing partnership to produce multimedia resource lists of related fiction and nonfiction books, websites and DVDs that further explore issues in select films.

YOUTH VIEWS

P.O.V.'s Youth Views provides free resources and training to young people (ages 14 through 20) working for social change. Youth Views is not a media production program, but a community outreach effort that has evolved from an extensive network of community partners using P.O.V. films to raise awareness and stimulate dialogue and action around issues affecting their communities. Youth Views works with a team of youth advisors to select films from P.O.V.'s archives and develop in-depth companion materials which are made available free-of-charge on the Youth Views Library area of the P.O.V. website. In addition to providing year-round support and technical assistance to youth-serving organizations, Youth Views convenes an annual weekend summit that brings a diverse group of teens, filmmakers and community organizers together to share knowledge and strategies face-to-face. Since the project's launch in 2001, Youth Views has trained over 100 youth organizers and provided resources and technical support to over 100 educators and youth serving organizations, reaching over 10,000 young people in New York City and across the country.

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