AMERICAN CREED — citizen power
PROJECT BACKGROUND
PBS launched the American Creed initiative in 2018 with a documentary that asked: What does it mean to be American? The film and an accompanying collection of PBS LearningMedia shorts that continue to be viewed and discussed in high school classrooms around the country profiled a mosaic of Americans —including Citizen University founder Eric Liu— working to realize their own visions of America’s promise. Scholars of our democracy, the Pulitzer Prize winning historian David M. Kennedy and his Stanford University colleague Condoleezza Rice, came together from different perspectives to tell their own American stories and facilitate a dialogue between a diverse group of young adults. Among other stories, the documentary also featured Civic Collaboratory members Joan Blades, founder of moveon.org, and Tea Party Patriots co-founder and Mark Meckler in dialogue with one another. The project has engaged over 1.5 million viewers, including high school students in all 50 states.
Now, amid a growing crisis of democracy, a new American Creed documentary series follows young leaders discovering their power to take action. The stories of these “extraordinary, ordinary” young adults will interweave with dialogue between them, facilitated by David M. Kennedy, Condoleezza Rice, Eric Liu and other experienced civic leaders from their different perspectives. Dialogues will explore ideals young leaders share in common and wrestle with a range of differences in backgrounds, outlook and approach.
A NATIONAL EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
By the time the new American Creed documentary series launches on PBS in 2026, an education campaign will already have begun engaging high school students across all kinds of school districts in all 50 states. The campaign will center around the diverse stories of young adults who are learning to build power and democracy from the bottom up. After the 2024 election, PBS LearningMedia will begin launching new short films, each profiling a different young leader. These films and accompanying photo essays by young leaders, published by PBS LearningMedia along with curricular activities, will guide students from viewing, to discussion, to action.
This is the current phase of a national audience engagement campaign that will crescendo in Fall 2026.
For a full description of the American Creed education campaign, click here.
VIDEOS
Meet some of the young leaders whose stories high school students will view and discuss:
Ramping up to the launch of the American Creed documentary series across PBS platforms in 2026, Citizen Film, the nonprofit production company behind American Creed, is working with PBS LearningMedia and the National Writing Project to coordinate an expansive national education campaign
At this stage, we’re seeking to develop additional partnerships with powerful civic organizations that will engage their constituents nationally. We’re also building partnerships with media outlets and social media influencers to publish and disseminate photo op-eds by a range of young leaders featured in American Creed.