THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT

AUDIENCE AWARD, BEST DOCUMENTARY - Dances with Films New York | BEST DIRECTOR - Atlanta Docufest Juvenile Justice • Child Abuse • Institutional Abuse and Power • Conversion Therapy • Child Victims Act • Statute of Limitations • Sexual Assault & PTSD • Coercive Control • Survivor Activism Date of Completion: 2025 | Run Time: 91 minutes | Language: English with English subtitles | Captions: Yes | Director, Producer & Editor: Mikaela Shwer | Producers: Alana Maiello, Robyn Kopp, Kimberly Stuckwisch & Kate Logan | Editors: Veronica Pinkham & Will Allegra-Garofalo What does it mean to be a survivor? Generations of children have been left with this question in the wake of abuse suffered at the hands of the Troubled Teen Industry, an unregulated network of for-profit institutions claiming to fix wayward teenagers. Decades later, they are fighting back. Filmed over the course of nine years, THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT is an intimate portrait of trauma following three families' journeys as they work to shed light on the devastating impacts of institutional abuse, pursue healing in the absence of justice, and fight to hold abusers accountable.