While the world argues over walls and borders, Boulder-based filmmaker Susan Polis Schutz prefers building bridges. Her ninth documentary, “Bridging Divides: Sharing Heartbeats,” skips the cynicism and goes straight to the music, sports and heart-to-hearts that connect us as human beings.

For her efforts, she’s taking home a Christopher Award in the TV, cable and streaming category — a prize that awards works that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit,” according to the nonprofit. (In 2019, Polis Schutz picked up the same award for the documentary “The Homeless Chorus Speaks.”)

Christopher Awards are bestowed upon storytellers who prove that tales told with empathy, courage and compassion are still worth hearing. Think of it as the Oscars for goodness: Since 1949, the Christopher Awards have recognized works in film, television and books that celebrate the best in humanity. Past winners include classics like “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Dead Poets Society” and “Inside Out.”

In “Building Bridges,” Polis Schutz takes viewers around the globe in search of harmony — from the borderlands between San Diego and Tijuana, where a grassroots festival invites musicians and dancers from the United States and Mexico to gather on either side of the border wall; to Jerusalem, where Israeli and Palestinian teens join voices in a youth chorus; to Northern Ireland, where thousands of Catholic and Protestant children are brought together through the PeacePlayers program as teammates on the basketball court; and even to Omaha, Neb., where the Tri-Faith Initiative brings a synagogue, church and mosque together on a single campus.

This year, “Bridging Divides” stands out for its irrepressible optimism, earning a spot alongside heavyweight winners like the Oscar-nominated “Sing Sing” and Disney’s “Young Woman and the Sea.”

For Polis Schutz, though, the hardware is just a bonus.

“Winning the award, it was a great honor,” Polis Schutz said. “It felt like a symbol of affirmation, not just for my filmmaking, but for the message itself, which is more important than me. The message is that people can get along. No matter how different they are, they can find connection.”

For Polis Schutz, the need to create this film grew out of exhaustion with the endless stream of “hatred, divisiveness and anger” in the news. She said she grew tired of hearing about conflict everywhere she turned. Curious to see if people were still coming together in meaningful ways, she began searching for stories of hope.

The search led her to Fandango Fronterizo, a festival where people from both sides of the U.S.—Mexico border gather to sing and dance.

“It’s like the wall isn’t even there,” she said.

Polis Schutz started researching, convinced these moments weren’t isolated, and quickly found many more examples of connection in unexpected places — particularly in groups sharing traditional folk music, choral singing, or the simple act of playing on the same sports team.

“Music is a universal language. Sports are a universal language. When you bring people together to do those things, you forget about your problems with each other,” she said.

Polis Schutz found herself especially moved by the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, a Jerusalem-based group where Israeli and Palestinian teens — who, by every headline and expectation, should be worlds apart — come together and sing, side by side.

“These are kids from opposite sides of a war, from groups that are supposed to hate each other, and yet they sing together,” she said. “One of the most moving moments was when they were singing in a bomb shelter.”

Alongside her husband, Stephen Schutz, Polis Schutz is also the co-founder of the greeting card and book publisher Blue Mountain Arts. Her son is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

“Bridging Divides: Sharing Heartbeats” can be streamed at PBS.com. Polis Schutz said she chose to distribute the documentary free of charge instead of following the traditional film festival circuit because PBS reaches a wider audience.

“I just hope people come away from it with the idea that hatred can be diminished if you realize people are just people,” she said. “These kinds of groups are forming every day. Maybe the film will help someone decide to start their own.”