Documentary and Gifted Education: Superkids 2 and its Impact on Perceptions of Gifted Education and Arts-Based Research

Arts-based research (ABR) has been gaining attention and popularity in recent years. One manifestation of this is the increased adoption of research-based documentaries as a means of knowledge production and mobilization in the field of gifted and talented education (e.g., RISE, The G Word). However, there has been little conversation on how documentaries can be more systematically adopted as a research tool. The goal of the study is to understand field researchers’ and practitioners’ perspectives, considerations, and inspirations regarding a gifted documentary and ABR. Employing a one-group posttest only design, this study treated the screening of the Superkids 2 documentary as an intervention and used a post-screening survey to collect data. Research participants ( N = 135) were recruited from two international conferences in gifted education (NAGC and APCG). Findings of the study show a strong appreciation for ABR and a heightened willingness for further exploration. The findings also indicate that Superkids 2 not only deepened understanding of the gifted population but also stimulated reflective and critical thinking regarding research and teaching practices, which aligns with the essence of qualitative research.