รางวัลออสการ์ สาขาภาพยนตร์สารคดียอดเยี่ยม
ภาพยนตร์สารคดีที่ได้รับรางวัลและได้รับการเสนอชื่อเข้าชิง > 1980s

| Year | Film | Name(s) |
| --- | --- | --- |
1980 (53rd): 
| 1980 (53rd) | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China | Murray Lerner |
| 1980 (53rd) | Agee | Ross Spears |
| 1980 (53rd) | The Day After Trinity | Jon Else |
| 1980 (53rd) | Front Line | David Bradbury |
| 1980 (53rd) | The Yellow Star – The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45 | Dieter Hildebrandt |
1981 (54th): 
| 1981 (54th) | Genocide | Arnold Schwartzman |
| 1981 (54th) | Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey | John Brousek |
| 1981 (54th) | Brooklyn Bridge | Ken Burns |
| 1981 (54th) | Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott | Mary Benjamin |
| 1981 (54th) | El Salvador: Another Vietnam | Glenn Silber |
1982 (55th): 
| 1982 (55th) | Just Another Missing Kid | John Zaritsky |
| 1982 (55th) | A Portrait of Giselle | Muriel Balash |
| 1982 (55th) | After the Axe | Sturla Gunnarsson |
| 1982 (55th) | Ben's Mill | Michel Chalufour and John Karol |
| 1982 (55th) | In Our Water | Meg Switzgable |
1983 (56th): 
| 1983 (56th) | He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' | Emile Ardolino |
| 1983 (56th) | Children of Darkness | Ara Chekmayan and Richard Kotuk |
| 1983 (56th) | First Contact | Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly |
| 1983 (56th) | The Profession of Arms | Michael Bryans and Tina Viljoen |
| 1983 (56th) | Seeing Red | Jim Klein and Julia Reichert |
1984 (57th): 
| 1984 (57th) | The Times of Harvey Milk | Rob Epstein |
| 1984 (57th) | High Schools | Charles Guggenheim |
| 1984 (57th) | In the Name of the People | Frank Christopher |
| 1984 (57th) | Marlene | Maximilian Schell |
| 1984 (57th) | Streetwise | Martin Bell |
1985 (58th): 
| 1985 (58th) | Broken Rainbow | Maria Floria and Victoria Mudd |
| 1985 (58th) | The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo | Susana Blaustein Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo |
| 1985 (58th) | Soldiers in Hiding | Malcolm Clarke |
| 1985 (58th) | The Statue of Liberty | Ken Burns |
| 1985 (58th) | Unfinished Business | Steven Okazaki |
1986 (59th): 
| 1986 (59th) | Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (tie) | Brigitte Berman |
1986 (59th): 
| 1986 (59th) | Down and Out in America (tie) | Joseph Feury and Milton Justice |
| 1986 (59th) | Chile: Hasta Cuando? | David Bradbury |
| 1986 (59th) | Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer | Amram Nowak |
| Witness to Apartheid | Sharon I. Sopher |  |
1987 (60th): 
| 1987 (60th) | The Ten-Year Lunch | Aviva Slesin |
| 1987 (60th) | Eyes on the Prize | Henry Hampton |
| 1987 (60th) | Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima | Michael Camerini, John Junkerman and James MacDonald |
| 1987 (60th) | Radio Bikini | Robert Stone |
| 1987 (60th) | A Stitch for Time | Nigel Noble |
1988 (61st): 
| 1988 (61st) | Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie | Marcel Ophüls |
| 1988 (61st) | The Cry of Reason: Beyers Naude – An Afrikaner Speaks Out | Robert Bilheimer |
| 1988 (61st) | Let's Get Lost | Bruce Weber |
| 1988 (61st) | Promises to Keep | Ginny Durrin |
| 1988 (61st) | Who Killed Vincent Chin? | Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña |
1989 (62nd): 
| 1989 (62nd) | Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt | Rob Epstein and Bill Couturié |
| 1989 (62nd) | Adam Clayton Powell | Richard Kilberg |
| 1989 (62nd) | Crack USA: County Under Siege | Vince DiPersio and William Guttentag |
| 1989 (62nd) | For All Mankind | Al Reinert |
| 1989 (62nd) | Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren | Judith Leonard and Bill Jersey |