Learn how the ancestors of Maya Rudolph, Shonda Rhimes and Keenen Ivory Wayans struggled for freedom, and how each of these cultural trailblazers gains a new understanding of how they fit into this proud trajectory.

Discover how the ancestors of business mogul Richard Branson and architects Maya Lin and Frank Gehry took audacious risks to create opportunities, and how their luck, ingenuity and chutzpah was passed on to these three visionaries.

Is biological lineage a necessary precondition for being a family? In this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent Robert Krulwich visit the Van Dries, of Grand Rapids. With three biological children plus eleven adoptees from the U.S. and around the world, parents Doug and Jan put that question to the test, adding language barriers and the effects of extreme poverty and abuse to the usual array of daunting parental challenges. The sociological...

In the animal world, as in our own, the family unit and social structure are crucial to survival. Animal alliances are as important for caring and sharing as for hunting and killing. Like animals, humans depend on social groups-from the small-scale family unit to a large organization such as the United Nations. By comparing human relationships with perceived animal parallels, this program offers an interesting insight into our shared world.

Reflections about the meaning of life that people want to share with us.

What is it like when a family member gets locked up? How do you cope emotionally or financially? Can you really forgive someone who commits a terrible crime? This documentary film examines what it is like for family members when a loved one gets on the wrong side of the law. Filmed over 18 months, it follows the lives of four young people as they grapple with the challenges that come with loving someone who has been convicted of a crime. Prison, My...

For children in the U.S., unsupervised play is largely a pastime of previous generations. Hanna Rosin of The Atlantic writes about the consequences of guarding children from perceived dangers in her article The Overprotected Kid. Judy Woodruff interviews Rosin about how we deal with risks and safety concerns for our children.

Humans are social animals and all seven billion of us on the planet engage in, and require, social interaction to maintain a balanced and healthy existence. Those with whom we interact range from family and close friends to different community groups, acquaintances and those we might deal with on a single occasion, or very infrequent basis. This film explores the nature of those social factors that play a major part in our health and wellbeing - including...

This documentary probes the complex nature of PTSD, profiling a veteran with feelings of self-hatred. Viewing posttraumatic stress as a natural outcome of exposure to highly stressful events and not as a disorder, the video brings to light the quiet struggle of individuals suffering from stress-related disorders.

Whether following stated procedures or complying with implicit rules of conduct, modern humans willingly modify their behavior dozens of times each day. In this program, the conformity necessary for mass interactions and the flexibility required to learn and use the behaviors of conformity are investigated. In addition to conventions such as air travel protocol and museum manners, instances of the subversion and even outright abuse of conformity are...