After a decade working with gang-involved and homeless youth in the San Francisco Bay Area, Spencer Wilkinson founded Endangered Ideas, an award-winning documentary production company in Oakland, to focus on stories of resilience. In 2021, Spencer directed the KQED: If Cities Could Dance, “Oakland Boogaloo” in which he was awarded a regional Emmy award in 2022 and an Excellence in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Spencer directed and produced “Alice Street (2020),” a documentary depicting the struggle to preserve Oakland’s ethnic arts and culture communities amid rapid gentrification. The film won ‘Best Documentary’ award at Oakland International Film Festival and ‘Social Impact Award’ at Thin Line. Among 35 film festival selections, highlights include Urbanworld, Mill Valley, Newport Beach, Seoul International Architecture and Milwaukee film festivals. In 2018, Spencer directed the feature-length “ONE VOICE: The Story of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir” which premiered at Mill Valley Film Festival and was a 2019 East Bay Express “Best Movie of the East Bay.” The film was featured in the 2020 “Truly CA” season on PBS.