Vicki Abeles

Vicki Abeles is a filmmaker, author, speaker, change agent, and youth advocate. Collectively, her films have inspired numerous communities to overhaul education policies and practices that encumber student health and meaningful learning. A former Wall Street attorney, Abeles turned filmmaker when she noticed that children across the U.S. were struggling with a silent epidemic of school stress. A two-year investigation into America's education system grew into the award-winning documentary Race to Nowhere, which uncovers ways our obsessive achievement culture undercuts children's health, growth, and learning. Using a cutting-edge distribution model that has showcased the film in more than 10,000 community-sponsored screenings, Abeles has brought Race to Nowhere to millions of viewers around the globe, igniting a grassroots movement bent on restoring student well-being, transforming education, and redefining success. Abeles's second film, Beyond Measure, follows a revolution brewing in public schools across the country, offering a positive picture of what's possible in education when communities decide to change. Her New York Times bestselling book, Beyond Measure: Rescuing an Overscheduled, Overtested, Underestimated Generation, guides communities in changing the system to put student health and well-being first. In 2020, Abeles will release The Gatekeeper: Math in America, shining a light on one of the most primary roots of inequity and anxiety among students-and one with incredible potential to transform both education and U.S. society. Abeles also provides consulting services to other filmmakers. She was an associate producer of the Sundance favorite Miss Representation (2011) and Plastic Man: The Artful Life of Jerry Ross Barrish (2014).