A list of 16 informative movies and documentaries that shed light on the issues and successes, the alternatives and triumphs that every one of the world’s citizens should be aware of. These revealing films will change the way you think about philanthropic living and giving.

1. Crude (2009)

Crude is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures

2. The Cove (2009)

The Cove follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and free divers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide

3. Crash (2004)

Crash is more intense, ambitious, and disturbing than most dramas. This film braids together a series of vignettes featuring a veritable United Nations of characters whose fates are intricately and inextricably intertwined. At the center of this web is bigotry in all its forms and gut-wrenching racism permeates the film. However, the script is ultimately sympathetic, illustrating how empathy and understanding can triumph intolerance

4. Food Inc. (2008)

Food Inc. lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment

5. Sicko (2007)

Sicko is a straight-from-the-heart portrait of the crazy and sometimes cruel U.S. health care system, told from the vantage point of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage. Sicko uses humor to tell these compelling stories, leading the audience to conclude that an alternative system is the only possible answer

6. God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan (2006)

God Grew Tired of Us explores the indomitable spirit of three “Lost Boys” from Sudan who leave their homeland (orphaned by a tumultuous civil war), triumph over seemingly insurmountable adversities and move to America, where they build active and fulfilling new lives but remain deeply committed to helping the friends and family they have left behind

7. Earth (2007) and Oceans (2009)

Earth and Oceans, both presented by Disneynature, boldly chronicle the vast beauty and mystery of our planet. Earth brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet — polar bears, elephants and humpback whales, while Oceans explores the harsh reality and the amazing creatures that live within the waters that cover nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface

8. Babies (2010)

Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world – from birth to first steps. The children, Ponijao (Opuwo, Namibia), Bayarjargal (Bayanchandmani, Mongolia), Mari (Tokyo, Japan), and Hattie (San Francisco, United States), re-define the nonfiction art form, as Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all

9. Blood Diamond (2006)

Blood Diamond tells a story, amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, of two men (an ex-mercenary turned smuggler and a Mende fisherman) who join forces for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman’s son, who has been captured by rebel forces. Blood Diamond shapes gripping human stories and heart-pounding action into a modern epic of profound impact

10. King Corn (2007)

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, these two best friends move to Iowa to learn where their food comes from. They plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most productive, most subsidized grain, but when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat – and how we farm

11. The Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006)

The Crude Awakening tells the story of how our civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world’s top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion – our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled

12. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

An Inconvenient Truth is a passionate and inspirational look at former Vice President Al Gore’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. With an emphasis on hope, An Inconvenient Truth ultimately shows us that global warming is no longer a political issue but rather, the biggest moral challenge facing our civilization today

13. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is one question away from winning India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”.  Jamal is arrested on suspicion of cheating; no one believes a street kid can possibly know so much. A jaded Police Inspector spends the night probing Jamal’s past, from his riveting tales of the slums to his heartbreak over a girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of Jamal’s story reveals where he learned the answers to the show’s seemingly impossible quizzes

14. Tapped (2009)

Tapped is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water. Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? From the plastic production to the ocean where so many of these bottles end up, this inspiring documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities which were the unwitting chips on the table

15. Darfur Now (2007)

Darfur Now is a story of hope in the midst of one of humanity’s darkest hours – a call to action for people everywhere to end the catastrophe unfolding in Darfur, Sudan. In this documentary, the struggles and achievements of six different individuals from inside Darfur and around the world bring to light the tragedy in Sudan and show how the actions of one person can make a difference to millions

16. Earthlings (2007)

Earthlings reveals the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Earthlings is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs. Today, Earthlings is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world

What movies have changed your life? Do you have any to add to the list?