Power Lab: Living In New Hope Documentary

Purchase The Power Lab Documentary Now!

This award-winning, feature-length documentary written and directed by Allan Kobernick, follows the lives of 19 executives, managers, educators and consultants who came to The Power Lab to deepen their understanding and competency as leaders and members of social systems. They were "born" into one of three classes within the Society of New Hope, either as members of the Elite, the Middles, or the Immigrants.

There was no script; what you see is the emerging drama of real people in real time struggling to find their voices, their power, and their leadership. This is gripping drama. There are power moves and counter-moves, confrontations across class lines and within classes. There are powerful courtroom scenes, and a theatre piece put on by the Immigrants in the best tradition of political theatre. You watch the society unfold as it struggles in the familiar tension between maintaining the status quo and transforming into something new. And you see first-hand the transitions the participants undergo in their roles.

While the documentary is a riveting story, it is more than that. Commentary by Barry Oshry provides the viewer with rare glimpses and valuable insights into the dynamics of system life whether in the organization, the university, the community or the nation. There are the struggles of the Elite as they face fundamental differences in their views of what kind of system they want to create; the disempowering forces operating on the Middles and their struggle to find individual and collective power; the pressures toward uniformity within the Immigrant group and both the collective strength and the painful consequences of that unity. And more.

Who Is The Target Audience?

The documentary stimulates productive conversation in university classes, leadership development seminars, community organizations and other institutions dedicated to social change. It also creates stimulating evenings of discussion for gatherings of friends and neighbors. Depending on your educational interest, conversation can be focused on such issues as power, diversity, class struggles, confrontation, or system change.

Download the Viewers Guide PDF. It helps viewers deepen their experience of the film and clarify their own issues of power, leadership, and other dynamics of system life.

What Viewers Say About The Power Lab Documentary:

"A masterful piece of video work! It stimulated us to make our own "unreasonable" power move. It worked! And the success has turned the tide in what had been a demoralized department."

Douglas T. (Tim) Hall,  Prof. of Organizational Behavior, Boston University School of Management

 "Watching what happened in New Hope grabbed our attention like nothing we have ever experienced on film. It has etched itself in our minds as a guide to any and all tiered organizations."

Martin and Polly Starr, Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College

"It made me take a look at my own response to power, how I find my voice, and how I show up in the workplace."

Alice Murray, Organizational Learning and Training Manager, 3M

"[The documentary] invites us to reflect upon ways we can find enough power and voice -- no matter where we find ourselves in the power structure -- to make strides toward humanizing our systems."

Maggie Herzig, Founding Associate, Public Conversation Project

"We discussed the video for hours. We're still discussing it, and we plan to watch it again and continue our discussion."

Helen Bishop, Congregational Services Director, Unitarian Universalist Association