Since the great experiments of the 1960s and early 1970s, distribution for documentary films has been limited except for those on the entertainment level. “Social Studies”, a program of videotapes and films (transferred to video), was put together with the intent of redressing this situation by turning away from perceived notions of the documentary and expanding the field of inquiry. None of the works screened were ‘merely’ documentaries, but dealt with social issues from a subjective and partisan point of view. Viewers of “Social Studies” were engaged by subjects as divers as the disables, child abuse, AIDS testing, the anorectic death of Karen Carpenter, and an historical view of human cruelty to animals.