The institutional subject here is the refuge The Spring in Tampa, Florida – the largest domestic violence shelter of its kind in the US. Cameras follow police responding to calls, helpline operators reaching out to panicked victims and devastating counseling sessions with women checking in, most often only after years of abuse. During group therapy sessions and classroom workshops, the wounded, nihilistic women exchange stories and learn to think for themselves again. Their emotional blossoming – sometimes apparent as soon as their initial entrance – is a privilege to witness, even as the shock and horror of their accounts accumulate and spill over into frank conversations with their perceptive children. Guiding residents through the law, economic survival and psychology, The Spring's monumental undertaking to alter a tortuously ingrained cycle of abuse renders the smallest breakthroughs enormous. – BG