# Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Documentaries

The Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries is one of the annual Directors Guild of America Awards given by the Directors Guild of America. It was first awarded at the 44th Directors Guild of America Awards in 1992.
Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir remains the only animated film to ever won a DGA award.

## Winners and nominees
### 1990s

| Year | Winners and nominees | Film |
| 1991 (44th) | Barbara Kopple | American Dream |
| 1991 (44th) | Eleanor Coppola, Fax Bahr, and George Hickenlooper | Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse |
| 1991 (44th) | Albert Maysles, Bob Eisenhardt, Susan Froemke, and Peter Gelb | Soldiers of Music: Rostropovich Returns to Russia |
| 1991 (44th) | Alan Raymond | Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House |
| 1992 (45th) | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | Brother's Keeper |
| 1992 (45th) | Ric Burns | The Donner Party |
| 1992 (45th) | Mark Stouffer | Braving Alaska |
| 1993 (46th) | Barbara Kopple | Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson |
| 1993 (46th) | Shari Cookson | Skinheads USA: Soldiers of the Race War |
| 1993 (46th) | Bruce Kuerten and John DiJulio | From Fields of Promise |
| 1993 (46th) | Susan Raymond | I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School |
| 1993 (46th) | Susan Steinberg | American Masters for "Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time" |
| 1994 (47th) | Steve James | Hoop Dreams |
| 1994 (47th) | Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine | Frosh: Nine Months in a Freshman Dorm |
| 1994 (47th) | Jyll Johnstone | Martha & Ethel |
| 1994 (47th) | Susan Todd and Andrew Young | Lives in Hazard |
| 1994 (47th) | Bethany Yarrow | Mama Awethu! |
| 1995 (48th) | Terry Zwigoff | Crumb |
| 1995 (48th) | Deborah Hoffmann | Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter |
| 1995 (48th) | Freida Lee Mock | Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision |
| 1995 (48th) | Bill Van Daalen | Indianapolis: Ship of Doom |
| 1995 (48th) | Helen Whitney | American Masters for "Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light" |
| 1996 (49th) | Al Pacino | Looking for Richard |
| 1996 (49th) | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills |
| 1996 (49th) | Leon Gast | When We Were Kings |
| 1996 (49th) | Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher | Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern |
| 1996 (49th) | Isaac Mizrahi | The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century for "Slaughter" |
| 1997 (50th) | Michael Uys and Lexy Lovell | Riding the Rails |
| 1997 (50th) | Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer | Liberty! The American Revolution for "Blows Must Decide" |
| 1997 (50th) | John O'Hagan | Wonderland |
| 1997 (50th) | Michèle Ohayon | Colors Straight Up |
| 1997 (50th) | Peter Rosen | First Person Singular: I.M. Pei |
| 1998 (51st) | Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert and Gordon Quinn | Vietnam, Long Time Coming |
| 1998 (51st) | Matthew Diamond | Dancemaker |
| 1998 (51st) | Susan Lacy | American Masters for "Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note" |
| 1998 (51st) | Nigel Noble | Great Performances for "Porgy and Bess: An American Voice" |
| 1998 (51st) | Kyra Thompson | Dying to Tell the Story |
| 1999 (52nd) | Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen | On the Ropes |
| 1999 (52nd) | Barry W. Blaustein | Beyond the Mat |
| 1999 (52nd) | Marc Levin | Thug Life in D.C. |
| 1999 (52nd) | Errol Morris | Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. |
| 1999 (52nd) | Gary Weimberg | The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez-Gomez |

### 2000s

| Year | Winners and nominees | Film |
| 2000 (53rd) | Charles Braverman | High School Boot Camp |
| 2000 (53rd) | Laurie Collyer | Nuyorican Dream |
| 2000 (53rd) | Mark Lewis | The Natural History of the Chicken |
| 2000 (53rd) | Michael Mierendorf | Broken Child |
| 2000 (53rd) | David de Vries | The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 2001 (54th) | Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim | Startup.com |
| 2001 (54th) | Charles Braverman | Rocky and Rolanda |
| 2001 (54th) | Stephen Ives | Amato: A Love Affair with Opera |
| 2001 (54th) | Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann | Long Night's Journey Into Day |
| 2001 (54th) | Martin J. Spinelli | Life on Jupiter: The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician |
| 2002 (55th) | Tasha Oldham | The Smith Family |
| 2002 (55th) | Charles Braverman | Bottom of the Ninth |
| 2002 (55th) | Rebecca Cammisa and Rob Fruchtman | Sister Helen |
| 2002 (55th) | Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender | Prisoner of Paradise |
| 2002 (55th) | Leah Mahan | Sweet Old Song |
| 2003 (56th) | Nathaniel Kahn | My Architect |
| 2003 (56th) | Sam Green and Bill Siegel | The Weather Underground |
| 2003 (56th) | Andrew Jarecki | Capturing the Friedmans |
| 2003 (56th) | Errol Morris | The Fog of War |
| 2003 (56th) | José Padilha | Bus 174 |
| 2004 (57th) | Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni | The Story of the Weeping Camel |
| 2004 (57th) | Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman | Born into Brothels |
| 2004 (57th) | Ross McElwee | Bright Leaves |
| 2004 (57th) | Michael Moore | Fahrenheit 9/11 |
| 2004 (57th) | Jehane Noujaim | Control Room |
| 2005 (58th) | Werner Herzog | Grizzly Man |
| 2005 (58th) | Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani | The Devil's Miner |
| 2005 (58th) | Sean McAllister | The Liberace of Baghdad |
| 2005 (58th) | Rupert Murray | Unknown White Male |
| 2005 (58th) | Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud | Off to War: Welcome to Baghdad |
| 2006 (59th) | Arūnas Matelis | Before Flying Back to Earth |
| 2006 (59th) | Amy J. Berg | Deliver Us from Evil |
| 2006 (59th) | Michael Glawogger | Workingman's Death |
| 2006 (59th) | James Longley | Iraq in Fragments |
| 2006 (59th) | Jean-Henri Meunier | Ici Najac, A Vous La Terre |
| 2007 (60th) | Asger Leth | Ghosts of Cité Soleil |
| 2007 (60th) | Ken Burns and Lynn Novick | The War |
| 2007 (60th) | Alex Gibney | Taxi to the Dark Side |
| 2007 (60th) | Richard E. Robbins | Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience |
| 2007 (60th) | Barbet Schroeder | Terror's Advocate |
| 2008 (61st) | Ari Folman | Waltz with Bashir |
| 2008 (61st) | Peter Gilbert and Steve James | At the Death House Door |
| 2008 (61st) | Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco | The Judge and the General |
| 2008 (61st) | James Marsh | Man on Wire |
| 2008 (61st) | Gonzalo Arijón | Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains |
| 2009 (62nd) | Louie Psihoyos | The Cove |
| 2009 (62nd) | Sacha Gervasi | Anvil! The Story of Anvil |
| 2009 (62nd) | Mai Iskander | Garbage Dreams |
| 2009 (62nd) | Robert Kenner | Food, Inc. |
| 2009 (62nd) | Geoffrey Smith | The English Surgeon |
| 2009 (62nd) | Agnès Varda | The Beaches of Agnès |

### 2010s

| Year | Winners and nominees | Film |
| 2010 (63rd) | Charles Ferguson | Inside Job |
| 2010 (63rd) | Lixin Fan | Last Train Home |
| 2010 (63rd) | Alex Gibney | Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer |
| 2010 (63rd) | Davis Guggenheim | Waiting for "Superman" |
| 2010 (63rd) | Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger | Restrepo |
| 2011 (64th) | James Marsh | Project Nim |
| 2011 (64th) | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory |
| 2011 (64th) | Steve James | The Interrupters |
| 2011 (64th) | Richard Press | Bill Cunningham New York |
| 2011 (64th) | Martin Scorsese | George Harrison: Living in the Material World |
| 2012 (65th) | Malik Bendjelloul | Searching for Sugar Man |
| 2012 (65th) | Kirby Dick | The Invisible War |
| 2012 (65th) | David France | How to Survive a Plague |
| 2012 (65th) | Lauren Greenfield | The Queen of Versailles |
| 2012 (65th) | Alison Klayman | Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry |
| 2013 (66th) | Jehane Noujaim | The Square |
| 2013 (66th) | Zachary Heinzerling | Cutie and the Boxer |
| 2013 (66th) | Joshua Oppenheimer | The Act of Killing |
| 2013 (66th) | Sarah Polley | Stories We Tell |
| 2013 (66th) | Lucy Walker | The Crash Reel |
| 2014 (67th) | Laura Poitras | Citizenfour |
| 2014 (67th) | Dan Krauss | The Kill Team |
| 2014 (67th) | John Maloof and Charlie Siskel | Finding Vivian Maier |
| 2014 (67th) | Jesse Moss | The Overnighters |
| 2014 (67th) | Orlando von Einsiedel | Virunga |
| 2015 (68th) | Matthew Heineman | Cartel Land |
| 2015 (68th) | Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | Meru |
| 2015 (68th) | Liz Garbus | What Happened, Miss Simone? |
| 2015 (68th) | Alex Gibney | Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief |
| 2015 (68th) | Asif Kapadia | Amy |
| 2016 (69th) | Ezra Edelman | O.J.: Made in America |
| 2016 (69th) | Otto Bell | The Eagle Huntress |
| 2016 (69th) | Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg | Weiner |
| 2016 (69th) | Raoul Peck | I Am Not Your Negro |
| 2016 (69th) | Roger Ross Williams | Life, Animated |
| 2017 (70th) | Matthew Heineman | City of Ghosts |
| 2017 (70th) | Ken Burns and Lynn Novick | The Vietnam War |
| 2017 (70th) | Bryan Fogel | Icarus |
| 2017 (70th) | Steve James | Abacus: Small Enough to Jail |
| 2017 (70th) | Errol Morris | Wormwood |
| 2018 (71st) | Tim Wardle | Three Identical Strangers |
| 2018 (71st) | Morgan Neville | Won't You Be My Neighbor? |
| 2018 (71st) | RaMell Ross | Hale County This Morning, This Evening |
| 2018 (71st) | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin | Free Solo |
| 2018 (71st) | Betsy West and Julie Cohen | RBG |
| 2019 (72nd) | Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert | American Factory |
| 2019 (72nd) | Feras Fayyad | The Cave |
| 2019 (72nd) | Alex Holmes | Maiden |
| 2019 (72nd) | Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska | Honeyland |
| 2019 (72nd) | Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang | One Child Nation |

### 2020s

| Year | Winners and nominees | Film |
| 2020 (73rd) | Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw | The Truffle Hunters |
| 2020 (73rd) | Pippa Ehrlich & James Reed | My Octopus Teacher |
| 2020 (73rd) | David France | Welcome to Chechnya |
| 2020 (73rd) | Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss | Boys State |
| 2020 (73rd) | Benjamin Ree | The Painter and the Thief |
| 2021 (74th) | Stanley Nelson Jr. | Attica |
| 2021 (74th) | Jessica Kingdon | Ascension |
| 2021 (74th) | Raoul Peck | Exterminate All the Brutes |
| 2021 (74th) | Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) |
| 2021 (74th) | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin | The Rescue |
| 2022 (75th) | Sara Dosa | Fire of Love |
| 2022 (75th) | Matthew Heineman | Retrograde |
| 2022 (75th) | Laura Poitras | All the Beauty and the Bloodshed |
| 2022 (75th) | Daniel Roher | Navalny |
| 2022 (75th) | Shaunak Sen | All That Breathes |
| 2023 (76th) | Mstyslav Chernov | 20 Days in Mariupol |
| 2023 (76th) | Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp | Bobi Wine: The People's President |
| 2023 (76th) | Madeleine Gavin | Beyond Utopia |
| 2023 (76th) | Davis Guggenheim | Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie |
| 2023 (76th) | D. Smith | Kokomo City |
| 2024 (77th) | Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev | Porcelain War |
| 2024 (77th) | Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie | Sugarcane |
| 2024 (77th) | Johan Grimonprez | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat |
| 2024 (77th) | Ibrahim Nash'at | Hollywoodgate |
| 2024 (77th) | Natalie Rae and Angela Patton | Daughters |

## Multiple wins and nominations

| Wins | Nominations | Name (Year) |
| 2 | 3 | Matthew Heineman (2015, 2017, 2022) |
| 2 | 3 | Jehane Noujaim (2001, 2004, 2013) |
| 2 | 2 | Barbara Kopple (1991, 1993) |
| 1 | 4 | Steve James (1994, 2008, 2011, 2017) |
| 1 | 3 | Joe Berlinger (1992, 2006, 2011) |
| 1 | 3 | Bruce Sinofsky (1992, 2006, 2011) |
| 1 | 3 | Charles Braverman (2000, 2001, 2002) |
| 1 | 2 | Peter Gilbert (1998, 2008) |
| 1 | 2 | James Marsh (2008, 2011) |
| 1 | 2 | Laura Poitras (2014, 2022) |
| 0 | 3 | Errol Morris (1999, 2003, 2017) |
| 0 | 3 | Alex Gibney (2007, 2010, 2015) |
| 0 | 3 | Jimmy Chin (2015, 2018, 2021) |
| 0 | 3 | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (2015, 2018, 2021) |
| 0 | 2 | Deborah Hoffmann (1995, 2001) |
| 0 | 2 | Ken Burns (2007, 2017) |
| 0 | 2 | Lynn Novick (2007, 2017) |
| 0 | 2 | Davis Guggenheim (2010, 2023) |
| 0 | 2 | David France (2012, 2020) |
| 0 | 2 | Jesse Moss (2014, 2020) |
| 0 | 2 | Raoul Peck (2016, 2021) |