“Across the Aisle”

Poignant stories of personal transformation from the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute

“Across the Aisle: Returning Trust, Civility and Respect to Politics” is a 90-minute documentary produced by WHTJ PBS about The Political Leaders Program at the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute.

WHTJ’s Emmy-nominated documentary producer, Paul T. Roberts, follows members of a highly selective class of adult students from across the Commonwealth of Virginia to track their personal and political transformations during a yearlong training program geared for public servants, activists and lobbyists. The documentary focuses on seven of the citizen leaders accepted into the training program.

The overall class of 35 students, and the seven specific subjects of the documentary, represent a wide demographic mix from among the hundreds of politically active professionals who applied, creating a perfectly volatile blend of politics, gender, age, ethnicity and personal history.

Class members come face to face with their personal biases and political limitations by arguing against their own positions, breaking down political stereotypes, spending real time with their opponents, balancing the state budget and touring state-run facilities to learn a new and highly functional approach to politics.