The Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights represent much more than the words used by America's Founding Fathers to define a fragile, nascent country. They're the living, breathing realization of America's democratic ideal, the bedrock of a society that its people have built over nearly two-and-a-half centuries, and they provide a blueprint that is, was and will be a template for democracy around the world. To celebrate...

In 1989, on the floor of Congress, Senator Jesse Helms implored America to "Look at the pictures," while denouncing the controversial art of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs pushed social boundaries with their frank depictions of nudity, sexuality and fetishism - and ignited a culture war that rages to this day. More than 25 years later, the HBO Documentary Films presentation Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures does just that, taking an unflinching,...

Every spring in America more than 8,000 people are shot and killed. Directed and produced by the Emmy®-winning filmmaking team of Shari Cookson and Nick Doob, Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014 tells some of these stories. Made entirely from existing, found media - news accounts, police investigations, and social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blog posting of those involved - this moving film shows that gun violence in...

A teenager with a drinking and drug addiction problem is confronted by his friends, brother, and girlfriend who stage an intervention for him with the help of a guidance counselor.

A Deadly Secret: The Robert Bierer Story tells the true story of one of the thousands of teenagers who commit suicide each year in the United States.

Three-time Emmy® winner James Gandolfini returns to HBO with this documentary special about wounded soldiers. It surveys the physical and emotional cost of war through memories of their "alive day," the day they narrowly escaped death in Iraq. Soldiers share questions about their future, severe disabilities and devotion to their country. The film also looks at the advances in military medicine that allow soldiers to return home and celebrate what...

Inspired by the book of the same name, When I Knew-codirected by filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato-asks one simple question: when did you know that you're gay? The film opens with Bailey and Barbato describing their own "aha!" moments and then brings together 16 interviewees for an intimate group discussion. Though some of the stories are told with a sense of loss, most are proud affirmations of sexual identity, supporting the conviction...

In this episode of Lifestories: Families in Crisis, viewers learn the true story of a minor who, believing nothing would ever happen to him, chose to drive after a night of drinking with friends. On his way home he crashed into an oncoming vehicle and killed the young woman driver. He was convicted and given a unique sentence of writing a weekly 1 dollar check to the victim's parents to ensure he always remembered the life he took. This is the story...

For children with a learning or physical disability, the focus is often on what's wrong. Miss You Can Do It celebrates what's right. This uplifting HBO Documentary Film chronicles the efforts of Abbey Curran, a former Miss Iowa USA and the first woman with a disability to compete in the Miss USA Pageant®, and eight girls with various disabilities as they participate in the Miss You Can Do It pageant. Created in 2004 by Curran (who has cerebral palsy),...

Photojournalist Michael Christopher Brown revisits Libya after the Libyan Civil War, which he was injured in. He explores the remaining conflicts and interviews survivors of the war with gruesome stories. Brown also reflects on the death of his colleagues that were photographing the Libyan Civil War in April 2011.