'Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street' Trailer: The Children's Television Workshop Gets The Spotlight

It’s played all over the world in countless languages, but if you grew up in North America, chances are nothing is more beloved from your childhood than the children’s educational program “Sesame Street.” And it’s hard to understand and put in context just how groundbreaking “Sesame Street” was at the time, and how influential; a project that saw the power of television in the 1970s and aimed to create an entertaining tool that would also teach children. But that’s exactly what’s done in the critically-acclaimed documentary, “Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street.“

Directed by Marilyn Agrelo (“Mad Hot Ballroom“) and produced by Trevor Crafts (“Experimenter 2015”) and Ellen Scherer Crafts, the documentary ‘Street Gang’ chronicles the improbable origins and expansion of the groundbreaking show that not only changed children’s television programming but had real-world effects on equality, education, and representation worldwide. The film is inspired by Michael Davis’ New York Times best-selling book of the same name.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Screen Media, present in association with HBO Documentary Films, will release ‘Street Gang’ in theaters on April 23 and on video-on-demand platforms on May 7.

‘Street Gang’ premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to much acclaim (read our review), and it gets to the heart of how “Sesame Street” was really ahead of the curve in terms of ideas of inclusivity, social and emotional learning for children and ideas of empathy for all. Here’s the official synopsis:

Inspired by the activism of the late 1960s, socially conscious television executive Joan Ganz Cooney and Sesame Workshop co-founder Lloyd Morrisett conducted a revolutionary experiment: to harness the burgeoning power of television and create an educational, impactful, uplifting, and entertaining show that could reach children nationwide, especially those living in urban areas. Cooney recruited trailblazing Muppets creator Jim Henson and acclaimed children’s television writer and director Jon Stone to craft the iconic and beloved world of “Sesame Street.”

STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET reintroduces this visionary “gang” of mission-driven artists, writers, and educators that audaciously interpreted radical changes in society and created one of the most influential and impactful television programs in history.

With more than 20 interviews with original writers, cast, and crew, and never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, STREET GANG is told from the inside with humor and emotion, weaving together personal narratives and eyewitness accounts. The film explores the original mission of the “gang” that created this cultural phenomenon, now spanning 50-plus years and reaching more than 150 countries.

‘Street Gang’ is a terrific documentary, and you should definitely check it out as soon as you can. Watch the first trailer below.