Ter Woerds, who originated in Haaksbergen studied history at the Free University Amsterdam and specialised herself in non-western sociology, mostly that of Latin America.
She was staying in the Dominican Republic for her graduation in 1985/86 and she wrote about the South African sugar industry.
Apart from that she made multiple information and recruitment films for the NGO's Aids Foundation East West (AFEW) and downside up, which is committed to the improvement of children with down syndrome in the Russian Federation.
Nowadays Ter Woerds is active as an independent documentary maker and producer in the Netherlands.
In 2006 the documentary A prayer for Beslan received from TV2 Norway a Moondance Columbine Award and a Zolotoi Glagol, a Russian media prize for foreign journalists.