| Year | Movie |
| 2022 | Navalny |
| 2021 | Summer of Soul |
| 2020 | My Octopus Teacher |
| 2019 | American Factory |
| 2018 | Free Solo |
| 2017 | Icarus |
| 2016 | O.J.: Made in America |
| 2015 | Amy |
| 2014 | Citizenfour |
| 2013 | 20 Feet from Stardom |
| 2012 | Searching for Sugar Man |
| 2011 | Undefeated |
| 2010 | Inside Job |
| 2009 | The Cove |
| 2008 | Man on Wire |
| 2007 | Taxi to the Dark Side |
| 2006 | An Inconvient Truth |
| 2005 | March of the Penguins |
| 2004 | Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids |
| 2003 | The Fog of War |
| 2002 | Bowling for Columbine |
| 2001 | Murder on a Sunday Morning |
| 2000 | Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport |
| 1999 | One Day in September |
| 1998 | The Last Days |
| 1997 | The Long Way Home |
| 1996 | When We Were Kings |
| 1995 | Anne Frank Remembered |
| 1994 | Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision |
| 1993 | I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School |
| 1992 | The Panama Deception |
| 1991 | In the Shadow of the Stars |
| 1990 | American Dream |
| 1989 | Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt |
| 1988 | Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie |
| 1987 | The Ten-Year Lunch |
| 1986 (TIE) | Artie Shaw: Time Is All You Got |
| 1986 (TIE) | Down and Out in America |
| 1985 | Broken Rainbow |
| 1984 | The Times of Harvey Milk |
| 1983 | He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin‘ |
| 1982 | Just Another MIssing Kid |
| 1981 | Genocide |
| 1980 | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China |
| 1979 | Best Boy |
| 1978 | Scared Straight! |
| 1977 | Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? |
| 1976 | Harlan County, USA |
| 1975 | The Man Who Skied Down Everest |
| 1974 | Hearts and Minds |
| 1973 | The Great American Cowboy |
| 1972 | Marjoe |
| 1971 | The Hellstrom Chronicle |
| 1970 | Woodstock |
| 1969 | Arthur Rubinstein: The Love of Life |
| 1968 | Journey into Self |
| 1967 | The Anderson Platoon |
| 1966 | The War Game |
| 1965 | The Eleanor Roosevelt Story |
| 1964 | World Without Sun |
| 1963 | Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World |
| 1962 | Black Fox: The True Story of Adolf Hitler |
| 1961 | Sky Above and Mud Beneath |
| 1960 | The Horse with the Flying Tail |
| 1959 | Serengeti |
| 1958 | White Wilderness |
| 1957 | Albert Schweitzer |
| 1956 | The Silent World |
| 1955 | The Unconquered: Helen Keller in Her Story |
| 1954 | The Vanishing Prairie |
| 1953 | The Living Desert |
| 1952 | The Sea Around Us |
| 1951 | Kon-TIki |
| 1950 | The Titan: Story of Michelangelo |
| 1949 | Daybreak in Udi |
| 1948 | The Secret Land |
| 1947 | Design for Death |
| 1946 | NO AWARD GIVEN |
| 1945 | The True Glory |
| 1944 | The Fighting Lady |
| 1943 | Desert Victory |
| 1942 (TIE) | The Battle of Midway |
| 1942 (TIE) | Kokoda Front Line! |
| 1942 (TIE) | Moscow Strikes Back |
| 1942 (TIE) | Prelude to War |
