He uses found footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that targets subjects from intellectual property rights to rampant consumerism.

Baldwin made his 1978 film Wild Gunman, a critical look at the figure of the Marlboro Man, using clips from the 1974 Nintendo arcade game of the same name, as well as B-movies and advertisements obtained from grindhouses.

[2][4] In 1984, Baldwin moved to San Francisco's Mission District and contributed to the founding of Artists' Television Access[5][6] In 1987, he started his long-running Other Cinema series at the space.

[8] He drew from this collection for his 1986 film RocketKitKongoKit, which narrates the CIA's role in establishing Mobutu Sese Seko's military dictatorship in Zaire (now the DR Congo) and the history of rocket testing there by a German weapons manufacturer.

[2] Baldwin's 1999 film Spectres of the Spectrum is a science fiction allegory that tells the story of a young woman with telepathic powers who travels back in time to save the world from an electro-magnetic pulse.

[14] In 2008, Baldwin created Mock Up on Mu, a fictional story based heavily on real facts of the lives of L. Ron Hubbard, Marjorie Cameron, Aleister Crowley, and Jack Parsons.

[6] Craig Baldwin: Avant to Live!, a 2023 book published by San Francisco Cinematheque and INCITE, surveys his work and career.