ITVS was established through legislation by the
United States Congress in 1988, "to expand the diversity and innovativeness of programming available to public broadcasting," and began funding new programming via production licensing agreements in 1990. From 2005 to 2010, it expanded its reach through the creation of the Global Perspectives Project, which facilitated the international exchange of documentary films made by independent producers. In 2017, ITVS was named the recipient of a
Peabody Institutional Award for its contributions to storytelling in television; the Peabody board of jurors cited "an accomplished range of work as rich as any broadcaster or funder," and in the same year the organization learned it was to receive the 2017 Emmy Governors Award chosen by the Television Academy Board of Governors, awarded during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Saturday, September 9, 2017. ITVS has discovered and nurtured prominent filmmakers, including one of the first films by Oscar-winning director
Barry Jenkins, who made a film. In 2015, ITVS created a new digital journalism initiative ==Notable works==