COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Teenagers from Colorado used their gift of storytelling to confront serious subjects.

Teens at the Colorado Springs-based Youth Documentary Academy (YDA) centered issues like domestic violence, immigration, and body image. And the young filmmakers had quite a platform: their documentaries, part of a series called Our Time, aired on Rocky Mountain PBS.

On October 7, Rocky Mountain PBS aired documentaries from students Josh Sun and Yolande Morrison. Each story covers immigration from a unique perspective.

Sun’s documentary, called “Love Me” is about Sun’s life as the son of Chinese immigrants. "Finding Home" from Morrison is about the move from Jamaica to Colorado Springs she made with her mother. Both stories have a commonality: living up to parents’ expectations while also attempting to carve a voice of their own.

On October 14, the Our Time episode which aired on Rocky Mountain PBS covered domestic violence. Rebecca St. John revealed the anatomy of a toxic relationship in high school while Dee Contreras details a life of homophobic bullying, even at the hands of a girlfriend. Both stories recount the degradation of self and the tough love from family and friends—along with therapy—that the subjects found necessary for healing and healthy relationships.

Finally, on October 21, Rocky Mountain PBS aired “Gorgeous” and “Out of the Box,” documentaries from Makayla de la Cruz and Casey Gurtler, respectively, that confronted issues around self-image. In “Gorgeous,” De la Cruz tackled her own life-long battle with body image.

YDA, based out of Pikes Peak Community College, was founded in 2013 and provides mentorship to aspiring documentary filmmakers between the ages of 14 and 18. More information is available here.