The documentary follows twenty boys from Baltimore, Maryland who spend their seventh and eighth-grade years at a rural boarding school in northern Kenya.

The film addresses the alarming statistic that 76% of African-American boys in Baltimore fail to graduate from high school, with 50% of them ending up in jail.

These numbers reflect the challenges posed by drug dealers, addiction, and a public school system overwhelmed by chaos.

Founded by the private Abell Foundation in 1996, the Baraka School – "baraka" means "blessing" in Kiswahili, the native spoken language of eastern Africa – was designed to give "at-risk" African American boys from Baltimore a chance to learn academically and grow personally in an environment far removed from their troubled neighbourhoods.

The Boys of Baraka is a co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS), produced in association with American Documentary | POV .