Alcoholics Anonymous turns 90 in June 2025. This quiet community, founded in the US and now operating in 180 countries, has saved millions of lives. This Humankind special examines AA's remarkable history, the principles of recovery it developed, and it how it became a template to help people worldwide who struggle with many forms of addiction – all free of charge.

Nine decades ago in the middle of the Great Depression two broken men – Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith – both “raging alcoholics” met at a time of great personal crisis for each. Bill had maintained a fragile abstinence from drinking for a few months, but felt suddenly at risk of relapse while on a disappointing business trip. His “epiphany” was that only by reaching out to help another alcoholic could he safeguard his own sobriety. The man he contacted (through a concerned friend), a physician known as Dr. Bob, was, at that moment, drunk and had passed out under the dining room table. Their actual first meeting, the following day, would lay the foundation for Alcoholics Anonymous. On June 10, 1935, the last of the co-founders took his final drink.

AA blossomed into a remarkable service organization that has helped the lives of tens of millions of alcoholics. Its basic text, known informally as “The Big Book”, a compendium of personal stories by dozens of alcoholics, has been translated to 67 languages and sold more than 30 million copies in English alone. This audio documentary explores the history of AA’s founding, including excerpts from films and a play reconstructing the events. We cover development of the famous Twelve Steps of recovery, featuring archival interviews with people who established a blueprint for those trapped in addiction and seeking a way out. A Stanford Univ. professor of psychiatry explains how recent research has validated the effectiveness of AA, for those who are willing to enter a journey of recovery.