Pennhurst

Pennhurst is a documentary film chronicling the stories of many people whose lives are irrevocably intertwined with the history of the Pennhurst State School and Hospital, located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Once a massive institutional home for the developmentally disabled, Pennhurst exemplified the divisive method of institutionalized care that rose to popularity early in the 20th Century as a result of the Eugenics Movement. Though the facility closed in 1987, its haunting past is a reminder of a place and time that gave birth to a civil rights movement all its own.