| 2025 | Mr. Nobody against Putin IMDB | Nominees to be determined |
| 2024 | No Other Land IMDB | Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham |
| 2023 | 20 Days in Mariupol IMDB | Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath |
| 2022 | Navalny IMDB | Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris |
| 2021 | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) IMDB | Ahmir \"Questlove\" Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein |
| 2020 | My Octopus Teacher IMDB | Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster |
| 2019 | American Factory IMDB | Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert |
| 2018 | Free Solo IMDB | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill |
| 2017 | Icarus IMDB | Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan |
| 2016 | O.J.: Made in America IMDB | Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow |
| 2015 | Amy IMDB | Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees |
| 2014 | CitizenFour IMDB | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky |
| 2013 | 20 Feet from Stardom IMDB | Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers |
| 2012 | Searching for Sugar Man IMDB | Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn |
| 2011 | Undefeated IMDB | TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas |
| 2010 | Inside Job IMDB | Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs |
| 2009 | The Cove IMDB | Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens |
| 2008 | Man on Wire IMDB | James Marsh and Simon Chinn |
| 2007 | Taxi to the Dark Side IMDB | Alex Gibney and Eva Orner |
| 2006 | An Inconvenient Truth IMDB | Davis Guggenheim |
| 2005 | March of the Penguins IMDB | Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau |
| 2004 | Born into Brothels IMDB | Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski |
| 2003 | The Fog of War IMDB | Errol Morris and Michael Williams |
| 2002 | Bowling for Columbine IMDB | Michael Moore, Michael Donovan |
| 2001 | Murder on a Sunday Morning IMDB | Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Denis Poncet |
| 2000 | Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport IMDB | Mark Jonathan Harris, Deborah Oppenheimer |
| 1999 | One Day in September IMDB | Arthur Cohn, Kevin Macdonald |
| 1998 | The Last Days IMDB | James Moll, Ken Lipper |
| 1997 | The Long Way Home IMDB | Rabbi Marvin Hier, Richard Trank |
| 1996 | When We Were Kings IMDB | Leon Gast, David Sonenberg |
| 1995 | Anne Frank Remembered IMDB | Jon Blair |
| 1994 | Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision IMDB | Freida Lee Mock, Terry Sanders |
| 1993 | I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School IMDB | Susan Raymond, Alan Raymond |
| 1992 | The Panama Deception IMDB | Barbara Trent and David Kasper, Producers |
| 1991 | In the Shadow of the Stars IMDB | Allie Light and Irving Saraf, Producers |
| 1990 | American Dream IMDB | Barbara Kopple and Arthur Cohn, Producers |
| 1989 | Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt IMDB | Robert Epstein and Bill Couturié, Producers |
| 1988 | Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie IMDB | Marcel Ophuls, Producer |
| 1987 | The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table IMDB | Aviva Slesin, Producer |
| 1986 | Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got IMDB | Brigitte Berman, Producer |
| 1986 | Down and Out in America IMDB | Joseph Feury and Milton Justice, Producers |
| 1985 | Broken Rainbow IMDB | Maria Florio and Victoria Mudd, Producers |
| 1984 | The Times of Harvey Milk IMDB | Robert Epstein and Richard Schmiechen, Producers |
| 1983 | He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' IMDB | Emile Ardolino, Producer |
| 1982 | Just Another Missing Kid IMDB | John Zaritsky, Producer |
| 1981 | Genocide IMDB | Arnold Schwartzman and Rabbi Marvin Hier, Producers |
| 1980 | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China IMDB | Murray Lerner, Producer |
| 1979 | Best Boy IMDB | Ira Wohl, Producer |
| 1978 | Scared Straight! IMDB | Arnold Shapiro, Producer |
| 1977 | Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? IMDB | John Korty, Dan McCann and Warren L. Lockhart, Producers |
| 1976 | Harlan County, U.S.A. IMDB | Barbara Kopple, Producer |
| 1975 | The Man Who Skied down Everest IMDB | F. R. Crawley, James Hager and Dale Hartleben, Producers |
| 1974 | Hearts and Minds IMDB | Peter Davis and Bert Schneider, Producers |
| 1973 | The Great American Cowboy IMDB | Kieth Merrill, Producer |
| 1972 | Marjoe IMDB | Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan, Producers |
| 1971 | The Hellstrom Chronicle IMDB | Walon Green, Producer |
| 1970 | Woodstock IMDB | Bob Maurice, Producer |
| 1969 | Arthur Rubinstein - The Love of Life IMDB | Bernard Chevry, Producer |
| 1968 | Journey into Self IMDB | Bill McGaw, Producer |
| 1967 | The Anderson Platoon IMDB | Pierre Schoendoerffer, Producer |
| 1966 | The War Game IMDB | Peter Watkins, Producer |
| 1965 | The Eleanor Roosevelt Story IMDB | Sidney Glazier, Producer |
| 1964 | Jacques-Yves Cousteau's World without Sun IMDB | Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer |
| 1963 | Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World IMDB | Robert Hughes, Producer |
| 1962 | Black Fox IMDB | Louis Clyde Stoumen, Producer |
| 1961 | Le Ciel et la Boue (Sky Above and Mud Beneath) IMDB | Arthur Cohn and Rene Lafuite, Producers |
| 1960 | The Horse with the Flying Tail IMDB | Larry Lansburgh, Producer |
| 1959 | Serengeti Shall Not Die IMDB | Bernhard Grzimek, Producer |
| 1958 | White Wilderness IMDB | Ben Sharpsteen, Producer |
| 1957 | Albert Schweitzer IMDB | Jerome Hill, Producer |
| 1956 | The Silent World IMDB | Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer |
| 1955 | Helen Keller in Her Story IMDB | Nancy Hamilton, Producer |
| 1954 | The Vanishing Prairie IMDB | Walt Disney, Producer |
| 1953 | The Living Desert IMDB | Walt Disney, Producer |
| 1952 | The Sea around Us IMDB | Irwin Allen, Producer |
| 1951 | Kon-Tiki IMDB | Olle Nordemar, Producer |
| 1950 | The Titan: Story of Michelangelo IMDB | Robert Snyder, Producer |
| 1949 | Daybreak in Udi IMDB | Crown Film Unit |
| 1948 | The Secret Land IMDB | Orville O. Dull, Producer |
| 1947 | Design for Death IMDB | Sid Rogell, Executive Producer; Theron Warth and Richard O. Fleischer, Producers |
| 1945 | The True Glory IMDB | The Governments of Great Britain and the United States of America |
| 1944 | The Fighting Lady IMDB | United States Navy |
| 1943 | Desert Victory IMDB | British Ministry of Information |
| 1942 | Kokoda Front Line! IMDB | Australian News & Information Bureau |
| 1942 | Moscow Strikes Back IMDB | Artkino |
| 1942 | Prelude to War IMDB | United States Army Special Services |
| 1942 | The Battle of Midway IMDB | United States Navy |