Skip to main content
Back to Show
Independent Lens

A Path Appears: The Cycle of Poverty in West Virginia

In this scene from the second episode of the Independent Lens documentary series A Path Appears, Jennifer Garner returns to her home state of West Virginia with Nicholas Kristof to visit rural, impoverished families. They travel with Tonya Bonecutter, a caseworker for Save the Children’s Early Steps, who explains that meth and prescription drugs plague all the families she works with.

Support Provided By
Season
The Librarians
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:25:43
Librarians across the U.S. examine how restrictions on library content are shaping communities.
Life After
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:23:41
A filmmaker investigates assisted dying through the lens of disabled voices missing from the debate.
Ratified
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:23:41
A bipartisan coalition continues a century-long fight to add gender equality into the Constitution.
Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution
1:24:19
Phil Sharp’s RNA discovery reshaped science, medicine, and the global biotech industry.
AAPI Voices
Unlock with PBS Passport
41:44
An elusive photographer uses street art tactics to share his previously unknown work with the world.
Changemakers
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:23:38
See how the Philippines' tense race for president in 2022 became the nation's fight for its soul.
Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's
Unlock with PBS Passport
54:20
Three families are transformed when a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Free For All: The Public Library
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:24:21
How public libraries shaped a nation and remain a beloved sanctuary for Americans today.
WE WANT THE FUNK!
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:22:07
The syncopated story of funk music, from its roots to the explosion of '70s urban funk and beyond.
Home Court
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:24:52
The coming-of-age story and rise of Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball prodigy.
Bike Vessel
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:24:55
Father and son bond on an ambitious 350-mile bike ride in this portrait of familial love.
Skin of Glass
1:25:02
How the turbulent history of her architect father's iconic building reflects Brazil's own struggles.
Active loading indicator