About Us

JANET PAXTON GARDNER is committed to giving history a human face. In 1990, she founded The Gardner Group, Inc. to direct and produce documentaries. Film credits include a trilogy about the history and culture of Vietnam: Emmy-nominated A World Beneath the War (PBS/Discovery Channels International, 1997); Precious Cargo (produced in association with ITVS (PBS/ National Geographic Channels International, 2001); and The Last Ghost of War (narrated by Kevin Kline, distributed by PBS International, 2007). Two films explored the Cambodian genocide: Dancing Through Death: The Monkey, Magic & Madness (PBS/ STARTV, 1999); and Lost Child: Sayon’s Journey (presented to PBS stations by WNET Channel 13 for broadcast, 2015). The NEH-funded Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story was presented by ETV to American Public Television and broadcast on PBS stations in 2010. Her documentaries have received awards from the International Documentary Association, National Education Media Network, CINE, Casey Journalism Center and Society of Professional Journalists.

Ms. Gardner began her career as a field producer, film editor and news writer for NBC News and WNBC-TV, WRC-TV (Washington, D.C.) and CBS News. As a print journalist, she was a feature writer for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and contributed to The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe. Ms. Gardner is an alumna of New York University’s Graduate Institute of Film and Television (now Tisch School of the Arts) and Cooper Union.

RICHARD A. NURSE, former Executive Director of the Crossroads Theatre Company, served as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Undergraduate Education for Rutgers University, and Associate Director of Admission at Brown. He was also the first African American headmaster of a New England boarding school, the Stockbridge School in Lenox, Massachusetts. Mr. Nurse has degrees from Brown University and the University of Rhode Island.

KEVIN CLOUTIER has collaborated with the Gardner Documentary Group since 1993 on documentaries broadcast on PBS stations and worldwide. They include Last Ghost of War, Precious Cargo, Dancing thru Death: The Monkey Magic and Madness of Cambodia, Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story, Lost Child: Sayon’s Journey and Siberian Dream. Kevin has had a longtime relationship with CBS, during which he earned six Emmys for his work on CBS Reports, 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II. He has also worked with Bill Moyers on programs for PBS and for United Nations television.

LAURA ISRAEL has worked with a number of New York based artists, including Jim Jarmusch and John Lurie. She worked with Lurie on his comedic faux documentary series “Fishing with John,” where Lurie travels to various locations in the world–Thailand, Jamaica, Maine–and goes fishing with his friends Dennis Hopper, Tom Waits, and Willem Dafoe. She has also served as editor on “Africa Unite: A Celebration of Bob Marley’s 60th Birthday” and “In the Hearts of Africa.”

Ms. Israel studied film at New York University and landed several jobs editing various music videos, commercials, and experimental films as a student. Of the latter, Israel worked closely with famed photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank cataloging and preserving his own experimental films and documentaries.

Israel made the leap to directing her own documentary with the controversial 2010 film “Windfall,” a project that originated from her own experiences in the Catskill Mountains when the small town near the cabin she regularly retreated to plunged into a contentious debate about wind energy when some residents agreed to allow towering wind generators to be built on their land, and others opposed it.

CHELSEA SMITH is a Brooklyn-based editor of documentaries, short films, and Web content. She recently completed work on Defining Hope, directed by Carolyn Jones. Following the stories of patients with life-threatening illnesses (and the nurses who guide them), Defining Hope investigates the choices made by people facing end of life. The film premiered at the 2017 Heartland Film Festival, where it won best Best Premiere – Documentary Feature.

Previous credits include Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno Live! and House of Z (as associate editor). In addition to editing, Chelsea has also worked as a graphic designer on projects such as Don’t Blink: Robert Frank, and “Burt’s Bees: From the Source.”

SOPHEAP THEAM, Co-Producer of Lost Child: Sayon’s Journey, also served as head of promotion and fundraising for the film. She was particularly effective in reaching out to the Asian American community for screenings and film festivals. Born in Cambodia, Ms. Theam speaks conversational Khmer and serves as translator and liaison to the Cambodian community. She was manager and consultant for the national exhibit of refugee transit photos, "More Than a Number." She continues to contribute her promotional, graphic design and social media skills as an associate producer for Quakers: The Quiet Revolutionaries. Ms. Theam is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Connecticut.

CYNTHIA EDWARDS joined the Gardner Documentary Group after an extensive career in opera production with the New York City Opera. Rights clearance and research, organizing film shoots, grant writing, creative consulting and office management make up her work for the company. Ms. Edwards graduated with honors from Butler University with a degree in music education.