# AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Documentary

The AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Documentary is one of the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards presented annually by the AARP. The award honors the best documentary film from a given year that is made by or focuses on people over the age of 50. The Best Documentary Award is one of the seven original trophies issued by AARP the Magazine, along with awards for Best Movie for Grownups, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Movie for Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up.

## Winners and Nominees

    indicates the winners.

### 2000s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2001 (1st) | Fighter | Amir Bar-Lev |
| 2002 (2nd) | Standing in the Shadows of Motown | Paul Justman |
| 2002 (2nd) | Bowling for Columbine | Michael Moore |
| 2002 (2nd) | Carnauba: A Son's Memoir | Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr. |
| 2002 (2nd) | Rivers and Tides | Thomas Riedelsheimer |
| 2003 (3rd) | Concert for George | David Leland |
| 2003 (3rd) | Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary | André Heller Othmar Schmiderer |
| 2003 (3rd) | The Fog of War | Errol Morris |
| 2004 (4th) | Festival Express | Bob Smeaton |
| 2004 (4th) | Control Room | Jehane Noujaim |
| 2004 (4th) | Metallica: Some Kind of Monster | Joe Berlinger Bruce Sinofsky |
| 2004 (4th) | Riding Giants | Stacy Peralta |
| 2004 (4th) | The Story of the Weeping Camel | Byambasuren Davaa Luigi Falnori |
| 2005 (5th) | Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room | Alex Gibney |
| 2005 (5th) | Grizzly Man | Werner Herzog |
| 2005 (5th) | March of the Penguins | Luc Jacquet |
| 2005 (5th) | No Direction Home: Bob Dylan | Martin Scorsese |
| 2005 (5th) | Tell Them Who You Are | Mark Wexler |
| 2006 (6th) | 51 Birch Street | Doug Block |
| 2006 (6th) | 49 Up | Michael Apted |
| 2006 (6th) | An Inconvenient Truth | Davis Guggenheim |
| 2006 (6th) | Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater | Julie Anderson |
| 2006 (6th) | Wordplay | Patrick Creadon |
| 2007 (7th) | In the Shadow of the Moon (tie) | David Sington Christopher Riley |
| 2007 (7th) | Sicko (tie) | Michael Moore |
| 2007 (7th) | For the Bible Tells Me So | Daniel G. Karslake |
| 2007 (7th) | Hear and Now | Irene Taylor Brodsky |
| 2007 (7th) | Run Granny, Run | Marlo Poras |
| 2008 (8th) | Man on Wire | James Marsh |
| 2008 (8th) | Young@Heart | Stephen Walker |
| 2008 (8th) | Chris & Don: A Love Story | Guido Santi Tina Mascara |
| 2008 (8th) | I.O.U.S.A. | Patrick Creadon |
| 2008 (8th) | FLOW: For Love of Water | Irena Salina |
| 2009 (9th) | The Way We Get By | Aron Gaudet |
| 2009 (9th) | Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement | Susan Muska Gréta Ólafsdóttir |
| 2009 (9th) | Gotta Dance | Dori Berinstein |
| 2009 (9th) | The Philosopher Kings | Patrick Shen |
| 2009 (9th) | Still Bill | Damani Baker Alex Vlack |

### 2010s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2010 (10th) | Waste Land | Lucy Walker |
| 2010 (10th) | Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer | Alex Gibney |
| 2010 (10th) | Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work | Ricki Stern Anne Sundberg |
| 2010 (10th) | Waiting for "Superman" | Davis Guggenheim |
| 2010 (10th) | Marwencol | Jeff Malmberg |
| 2011 (11th) | Bill Cunningham New York | Richard Press |
| 2011 (11th) | Hot Coffee | Susan Saladoff |
| 2011 (11th) | The Interrupters | Steve James |
| 2011 (11th) | Project Nim | James Marsh |
| 2011 (11th) | Undefeated | Daniel Lindsay T. J. Martin |
| 2012 (12th) | Searching for Sugar Man | Malik Bendjelloul |
| 2012 (12th) | Betting the Farm | Jason Mann Cecily Pingree |
| 2012 (12th) | Charles Bradley: Soul of America | Poull Brien |
| 2012 (12th) | How to Survive a Plague | David France |
| 2012 (12th) | Surviving Hitler: A Love Story | John Keith Wasson |
| 2013 (13th) | 20 Feet from Stardom | Morgan Neville |
| 2013 (13th) | Herb & Dorothy 50x50 | Megumi Sasaki |
| 2013 (13th) | Muscle Shoals | Greg "Freddy" Camalier |
| 2013 (13th) | Running from Crazy | Barbara Kopple |
| 2013 (13th) | Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde | Suzanne Mitchell |
| 2014 (14th) | Keep On Keepin' On | Alan Hicks |
| 2014 (14th) | Advanced Style | Lina Plioplyte |
| 2014 (14th) | Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me | James Keach |
| 2014 (14th) | Perfect Strangers | Jane Krawitz |
| 2014 (14th) | The Trials of Muhammad Ali | Bill Siegel |
| 2015 (15th) | The Last Man on the Moon | Mark Craig |
| 2015 (15th) | Best of Enemies | Robert Gordon Morgan Neville |
| 2015 (15th) | In Transit | Albert Maysles Lynn True David Usui |
| 2015 (15th) | Radical Grace | Rebecca Parrish |
| 2015 (15th) | Very Semi-Serious | Leah Wolchok |
| 2016 (16th) | The Beatles: Eight Days a Week | Ron Howard |
| 2016 (16th) | Big Sonia | Leah Warshawski Todd Soliday |
| 2016 (16th) | Everything Is Copy | Jacob Bernstein Nick Hooker |
| 2016 (16th) | Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise | Rita Coburn Whack Bob Hercules |
| 2016 (16th) | Tower | Keith Maitland |
| 2017 (17th) | I Am Not Your Negro | Raoul Peck |
| 2017 (17th) | Dolores | Peter Bratt |
| 2017 (17th) | Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story | Daniel Raim |
| 2017 (17th) | Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold | Griffin Dunne |
| 2017 (17th) | Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo | David Fairhead |
| 2018 (18th) | Won't You Be My Neighbor | Morgan Neville |
| 2018 (18th) | Amazing Grace | Alan Elliott Sydney Pollack (uncredited) |
| 2018 (18th) | Bathtubs Over Broadway | Dava Whisenant |
| 2018 (18th) | RBG | Betsy West Julie Cohen |
| 2018 (18th) | The Rest I Make Up | Michelle Memran |
| 2019 (19th) | Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice | Rob Epstein Jeffrey Friedman |
| 2019 (19th) | Apollo 11 | Todd Douglas Miller |
| 2019 (19th) | Ask Dr. Ruth | Ryan White |
| 2019 (19th) | The Apollo | Roger Ross Williams |
| 2019 (19th) | Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am | Timothy Greenfield-Sanders |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Director(s) |
| 2020/21 (20th) | A Secret Love | Chris Bolan |
| 2020/21 (20th) | Crip Camp | Nicole Newnham James Lebrecht |
| 2020/21 (20th) | Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy | Elizabeth Carroll |
| 2020/21 (20th) | Dick Johnson Is Dead | Kirsten Johnson |
| 2020/21 (20th) | Sky Blossom | Richard Lui |
| 2021 (21st) | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) | Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson |
| 2021 (21st) | The Beatles: Get Back | Peter Jackson |
| 2021 (21st) | Julia | Julie Cohen Betsy West |
| 2021 (21st) | My Name is Pauli Murray | Betsy West Julie Cohen |
| 2021 (21st) | Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America | Emily Kunstler Sarah Kunstler |
| 2022 (22nd) | Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down | Julie Cohen Betsy West |
| 2022 (22nd) | Lucy and Desi | Amy Poehler |
| 2022 (22nd) | The Pez Outlaw | Amy Bandlien Storkel Bryan Storkel |
| 2022 (22nd) | Sidney | Reginald Hudlin |
| 2022 (22nd) | Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off | Sam Jones |
| 2023 (23rd) | Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie | Davis Guggenheim |
| 2023 (23rd) | Invisible Beauty | Bethann Hardison |
| 2023 (23rd) | Judy Blume Forever | Davina Pardo Leah Wolchok |
| 2023 (23rd) | The Lost Weekend: A Love Story | Eve Brandstein |
| 2023 (23rd) | The Pigeon Tunnel | Errol Morris |
| 2024 (24th) | Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story | Ian Bonhôte Peter Ettedgui |
| 2024 (24th) | I Am: Celine Dion | Irene Taylor |
| 2024 (24th) | Luther: Never Too Much | Dawn Porter |
| 2024 (24th) | Piece by Piece | Morgan Neville |
| 2024 (24th) | Will & Harper | Josh Greenbaum |

## Directors with Multiple Nominations and Wins

The following directors have received multiple nominations for Best Documentary:
| Wins | Director | Nominations |
| 2 | Morgan Neville | 3 |
| 1 | Alex Gibney | 2 |
| 1 | Davis Guggenheim | 3 |
| 1 | James Marsh | 2 |
| 1 | Michael Moore | 2 |
| 0 | Julie Cohen & Betsy West | 4 |
| 0 | Patrick Creadon | 2 |