Go Find It
Follow the journeys of three students-all drawn to design-as they travel across the country interviewing leaders in the field of design to gain guidance for their own future paths. Starting their journey on one coast and ending up on the other, the road-trippers talk to everyone from animators to guitar-makers, jet-pack entrepreneurs, and the sound designer for Star Wars to hear the challenges they faced, the fears they tackled, and the conviction that carried them in their quest for meaningful work. Throughout 6 weeks and 6,300 miles, the advice collected on the road compels the road-trippers to think more broadly about their possibilities and launch into the next chapters of their lives.
About Public Television: Season 12
In an inspiring new season on public television, Roadtrip Nation’s documentary series follows the journey of three young adults looking to define their own roads in life as they travel the country in Roadtrip Nation’s iconic green RV interviewing innovators and leaders in design. Throughout eight half-hour episodes, viewers go on a whirlwind journey that crosses 21 states and covers 6,300 miles as the road-trippers meet with designers of all kinds–from animators to engineers, storytellers to entrepreneurs–to find inspiration and guidance from individuals who have built careers doing what they love. As the road-trippers get farther from where they started, the stories and experiences collected on the road stretch their idea of what’s possible, giving them the inspiration and conviction they need to take the next steps in their own lives.
Season 12’s three road-trippers–Ben, Martha, and Sofaya–are all drawn to design from different angles but don’t know what shape their interest will take now that they’re each ready to chart their paths post-college. 24-year-old Ben was born, raised, and educated in Rhode Island and he’s craving exposure to places and ideas outside the borders of his home state, preferably related to the things he likes best: music, surfing, and other adventures. Martha, 22, grew up in a family of designers–her dad is a video game designer and her mom is an architect–but she’s kept her studies broad and now she’s ready to zero in on what’s next, but she doesn’t know where to start. 22-year-old Sofaya studied industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design, but her parents, who immigrated from Haiti, are pushing her to choose a “safe” path that will lead to a steady career.
Throughout 28 thought-provoking interviews, the road-trippers hear perspective-shifting advice from a wide range of leaders in design, including: Patagonia designer John Rapp, Tina Roth Eisenberg a.k.a. swissmiss, Wayne Unten of Disney’s Frozen, Ben Burtt of Skywalker Sound, Pixar’s Ralph Eggleston, Snap Judgment’s Glynn Washington, and many more.
⏯ Watch all of season 12 now
Season 12
Episode 1 – Whirlwind of Awesomeness
The keys to the Green RV go to three new road-trippers, all interested in design, who kick-start their cross-country journey of self-discovery with a visit to the art-tech spectacle of Two Bit Circus, where founders Brent Bushnell and Eric Gradman share their story of dabbling across domains and finding inspiration at the intersection of their interests.
Episode 2 – East Meets West
The East Coast born-and-bred road-trippers experience a totally foreign way of life-laidback and Californian-as they ride jet packs, talk to the creator of Frozen’s Elsa in L.A., and venture north to Ventura where Patagonia designer John Rapp instructs them in the relaxed ways of West Coast work-life, finding what you love and digging in, and creating balance wherever you are.
Episode 3 – Finding Contentment
In Oakland, Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington tells a story of fleeing his comfort zone and moving to Japan, where he found an unexpected teacher and an unexpected calling when he accidentally bought dog food for dinner one night. Santa Cruz Guitar founder Richard Hoover shares his philosophy of teaching and service and leads the road-trippers into Santa Cruz’s misty, magical redwood forest.
Episode 4 – Challenge the Status Quo
The road-trippers head to Skywalker Ranch, where Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt recounts driving cross-country to California twice before his dreams of being a sound designer beat back his fear of change; plus Pixar animator Ralph Eggleston on getting beyond the world you inhabit and going deeper into what interests you, and Janice Levenhagen-Seeley of ChickTech on challenging the status quo.
Episode 5 – The Answer is Within You
The road-trippers explore the Experience Music Project in Seattle, where experience designer Andrea Weatherhead advises that the best path toward happiness is getting to know yourself. In Colorado, the team meets interior designer Eiko Okura, who urges them to stop overthinking and see what emerges, and Michael Franti, who advocates for making lots of decisions and seeing what sticks.
Episode 6 – Make it Your Own
The road-trippers try their hand at spinning molten glass with glassblower Jessica Schimpf. The world isn’t looking for you, she says, you have to go out and find it–she left a big-time welding gig to follow her dreams. In Texas, the team interviews Austonites on the street and goes for beignets and palm readings in New Orleans before hitting crowd-powered T-shirt purveyor Threadless in Chicago.
Episode 7 – Deciding What’s Next
In Chicago, the team meets exhibition designer Olivia Castellini, a physics Ph.D. whose job combines her super-varied interests in science and the arts. In NYC, unstoppable inventor-turned-entrepreneur Ben Kaufman recounts flying to China to make his first product before he’d even graduated from high school and shares why it’s important to strike the right balance between jerk and pushover.
Episode 8 – Everything is Design
The trip ends in NYC as the team meets designer Tina Roth Eisenberg, who left her tiny village in Switzerland to find her people in New York. Last up, Helvetica director Gary Hustwit on the philosophy that connects all design: moving things forward. Though the road-trippers’ forward movement on the Green RV ends here, nothing about what they’ve learned on this journey is over.
⏯ Watch all of season 12 now
About Roadtrip Nation:
Stories to help you figure out what you want to do with your life, and tools to help you plan how to get there. When you’re unsure what’s next, we’re here to help you figure out your path forward. This is career exploration driven by you and your interests.
Roadtrip Nation is a weekly half-hour documentary series that tracks the up-close and personal journeys of young adults as they travel the country interviewing inspiring leaders from all walks of life. Throughout 8 episodes, viewers hitch-hike along for a whirlwind tour through 25 states as the young road-trippers seek life advice from poets, NASA engineers fire-spinners, chimp veterinarians, and more–people who have built fulfilling lives doing what they love. Ultimately, after 8 weeks on the road and over 5,000 miles clocked on the odometer, the road-trippers’ (and viewers’) perspective on life is irrevocably changed.
