The Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School (BCAM), founded by a former DJ and basketball point guard turned first-time principal Dr. James O’Brien, opened with a freshman class of 104 in 2006.

It is one of 350 “small schools” opened in New York City since 2002 that are at the center of the city’s efforts to transform a top-down public education bureaucracy into a system that gives educators the autonomy to build their own schools, tailor curriculums to communities’ needs, and provide students with real choices in their education.

The film follows a diverse group of characters in their community, homes, and classrooms over the course of four years – from the school’s inception through its first graduation. With unprecedented access to intimate moments in their lives in and out of school, from classrooms and counselor’s offices to students’ and teachers’ homes, Growing Small examines the process of forming a school as a community effort.

The film is a verité, character-driven narrative told in three acts and combines footage shot by the filmmakers with footage shot by the film’s subjects.

TRAILER 4:30 (fine version)

LP TRAILER (9:00)

rough cut • unmixed

A diverse group of young, eccentric educators create their own public high school in an under-served community of Brooklyn. But their high ideals are tested when their vision for reform is applied to the reality of the community they mean to serve.

Over four years, from the school’s opening day

to its first graduation, we witness the transformation of an inner-city community through the eyes of a teen with a secret, a  teacher in crisis, and a mother with blindly driven for her sons success.  

Growing Small ponders what it means to bridge the urban achievement gap--who is responsible, who is capable, and whether it's possible or not.

(working title)