| Name |
Year |
Director |
| For All Mankind |
1989 |
Al Reinert |
| Berkeley in the '60s |
1990 |
Mark Kitchell |
| American Dream |
1991 |
Barbara Kopple |
| Brother's Keeper |
1992 |
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky |
| Something Within Me |
1993 |
Jerret Engle and Emma Joan Morris |
| Hoop Dreams |
1994 |
Steve James |
| Ballot Measure 9 |
1995 |
Heather MacDonald |
| Unzipped |
1995 |
Douglas Keeve |
| Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern |
1996 |
Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher |
| Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End |
1997 |
Monte Bramer |
| Out of the Past |
1998 |
Jeffrey Dupre |
| Genghis Blues |
1999 |
Roko Belic |
| Dark Days |
2000 |
Marc Singer |
| Dogtown and Z-Boys |
2001 |
Stacy Peralta |
| Scout's Honor |
2001 |
Tom Shepard |
| Amandla! A Revolution In Four Part Harmony |
2002 |
Lee Hirsch |
| My Flesh and Blood |
2003 |
Jonathan Karsh |