The California Documentary Project (CDP) is a competitive grant program that supports the research and development and production stages of film, audio, and digital media projects that seek to document California in all its complexity. Projects should use the humanities to provide context, depth and perspective and reach and engage broad audiences through multiple means, including but not limited to radio and television broadcasts, podcasts, online distribution and interactive media, community screenings and discussions, in classrooms and libraries, at cultural centers, film festivals, and beyond. Funding is available in two categories:

Research and Development Grants up to $10,000

Production Grants up to $50,000

Since 2003, California Humanities has awarded over $5 million to projects that document California and its cultures, peoples, and histories, and that together help us better understand who we are and where we live. Recently supported projects include the podcasts and radio series California Foodways, The Stoop and The Intersection; interactive and transmedia documentaries such as K-TOWN ‘92 and The Mojave Project; and documentary films such as REAL BOY, The Return, Forever, Chinatown, No Más Bebés? , The Last Day of Freedom, Romeo is Bleeding, Ovarian Psycos, Tribal Justice, Dogtown Redemption and many more.