The communities you serve are making history.
We help them own the telling of it.
A documentary film partnership for foundations and public agencies doing racial justice, health equity, and community healing work.
“We quickly realized that the process of creating the documentary became so much more than a record of what happened. In the process of telling our stories, we thought of the lives we lost, the fragility of our communities, and the undeniable need to strive for equity. We also realized we needed a way to heal from the trauma of COVID and racism. We were lucky to work with AllThrive and OLU8, who understood all this and facilitated our storytelling process in ways that were reflective, profound, and transforming. They created a beautiful film that serves as a powerful testament to the determination, compassion, and resilience of our communities.”
See the film that came from this process: heartofaccessfilm.org/watch-film
Documentary Film as An Act of Healing
Extraordinary work is being done in communities across this country. Coalitions are being built, crises are being navigated, innovations are being developed under pressure — and then those stories disappear. They don't get documented. Or they get documented by an outside crew that arrives, records, and leaves. The community's truth becomes someone else's product.
We work differently.
AllThrive and OLU8 Films have developed a documentary methodology — Narrative Change for Healing — that treats the storytelling process itself as an Act of Healing. We don't arrive with a predetermined narrative. We build relationships before we turn on a camera. We convene community advisory boards with real editorial power. We hold space for grief, for sacrifice, for what communities want future generations to know.
The result is a film your grantees feel proud of. One that reflects their truth. One that lasts.
The process is the product.
Every project begins with deep listening — identifying whose stories need to be told, what questions need to be asked, and what narratives must not be left out. This is not pre-production. It is the work.
From there, community partners review footage and participate in editorial decisions at multiple points.
Not as a courtesy — as a structural commitment.
The work can include:
A feature documentary film — built for festivals, screenings, and distribution
A living oral history archive, accessible to the communities whose stories it holds
A community screening series — designed as celebration and collective healing
A curriculum for use in future convenings, trainings, and grantee programming
We work with philanthropic foundations and public agencies as partners — co-designing the scope and structure of each engagement rather than arriving with a fixed service package. If you're wondering whether this fits within your grantmaking or program, that's the right first question. Reach out and we'll think it through together.
See the methodology. Watch the films.
In 2020, we documented one of the most significant public health mobilizations in recent memory — community organizations in San Francisco responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in communities of color where the devastation was most severe.
The Heart of Access followed frontline community workers, public health staff, and leaders in historically marginalized communities of color — produced in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
★ Nominated — Best Documentary Short, Golden Gate International Film Festival 2024
★ Official Selection — APHA Public Health Film Festival
★ Produced in partnership with SF Department of Public Health, Center for Learning & Innovation
★ Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
I AM HOPE documented the creation of Oakland Unified School District’s first yoga and mindfulness program for middle schools, following young people in the Black community navigating resilience, healing, and the pursuit of big dreams.
★ Winner — Best Feature-Length Documentary Film, The International Black Film Festival, Nashville 2024
★ Official Selection — Mill Valley Film Festival
Two films. Two communities. One methodology.
Watch The Heart of Access: heartofaccessfilm.org/watch-film
Learn more about I Am Hope: iamhopedocumentary.com
AllThrive + OLU8 Films
AllThrive brings nine years of deep relationships with community-based organizations, lived expertise in the communities whose stories we tell, and the Narrative Change for Healing methodology that makes the process itself an act of healing. That methodology has been tested across more than 100 organizations — in public health crises, vaccine equity campaigns, and the daily work of keeping communities together under pressure. The communities whose stories we tell are communities we have always been part of.
OLU8 Films brings the production excellence and community rootedness that make films go to festivals — and make communities feel proud of what was made about them. Founded by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker ShakaJamal, OLU8 has always understood that the camera is not neutral. Shaka's work is rooted in Black community, healing, and youth resilience — and his practice as a trauma-informed yoga teacher is not separate from his filmmaking. It is the same work, expressed differently. That is exactly why this partnership exists.
If the work you fund and support is too important not to document — we'd like to talk.
We believe the right partnerships find each other. The first conversation is how that happens.
Reach out directly to Wendy Martinez Marroquin, Co-Founder of AllThrive Education: wendy@allthriveed.org