In 1965, J. Blanton Belk dedicated his energies to creating an organization for young adults that enabled them to interact with the world through positivity and music.

[6] Companies like Exxon, Halliburton, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, General Electric, Coors, Toyota, Enron and Searle donated tens of millions of dollars to the organization.

[10] By the 1990s, the organization found itself struggling to recruit youth capable of paying tuition rates that exceeded the cost of most private universities, a problem compounded by the mostly indifferent response to the group's public performance.

[15] By the 1990s, Up With People's themed, musical-style spectacles were frequently lambasted by critics and mocked by television writers for being dated and seeming phony, if not outright creepy.

[16] One critic opined, "Up With People didn't lose its way because it lost the ability to control its cast members' behavior, or because the public suddenly came to recognize that its sickly sweet songs were insufferable.

[18] A water rights attorney who never had training as a filmmaker, Storey felt compelled to make the film when she discovered her husband was keeping a secret from her: he was a former UWP member.

"[1] The documentary asserts that the organization, founded on conservative American ideals, was funded by corporate America and was deliberate propaganda to counteract the liberal counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s.

The documentary spawned a lawsuit against the IRS, in which filmmaker Lee Storey asserted the right to deduct her expenses in making the film, even though she derived no profit from it.

[30] Elizabeth Birch, attorney and former corporate executive who chaired the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1992 to 1994 and served from 1995 until 2004 as the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT organization, travelled one year with UWP in her high school years.

"[31] Frank Gatson Jr. traveled with Up with People, and he is known for being the creative director for En Vogue, Brandy, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyoncé.

He has also choreographed videos, routines and live performances for artists including Michael Jackson, TLC, Kelly Rowland, Fifth Harmony, Destiny's Child, Toni Braxton, and Usher.