| Year | Winners and nominees | Film | Ref. |
|---|
1991
(44th) | Barbara Kopple | American Dream | [1] |
| Eleanor Coppola, Fax Bahr, and George Hickenlooper | Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse |
| Albert Maysles, Bob Eisenhardt, Susan Froemke, and Peter Gelb | Soldiers of Music: Rostropovich Returns to Russia |
| Alan Raymond | Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House |
1992
(45th) | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | Brother's Keeper | [2] |
| Ric Burns | The Donner Party |
| Mark Stouffer | Braving Alaska |
1993
(46th) | Barbara Kopple | Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson | [3] |
| Shari Cookson | Skinheads USA: Soldiers of the Race War |
| Bruce Kuerten and John DiJulio | From Fields of Promise |
| Susan Raymond | I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School |
| Susan Steinberg | American Masters for "Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time" |
1994
(47th) | Steve James | Hoop Dreams | [4] |
| Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine | Frosh: Nine Months in a Freshman Dorm |
| Jyll Johnstone | Martha & Ethel |
| Susan Todd and Andrew Young | Lives in Hazard |
| Bethany Yarrow | Mama Awethu! |
1995
(48th) | Terry Zwigoff | Crumb | [5] |
| Deborah Hoffmann | Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter |
| Freida Lee Mock | Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision |
| Bill Van Daalen | Indianapolis: Ship of Doom |
| Helen Whitney | American Masters for "Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light" |
1996
(49th) | Al Pacino | Looking for Richard | [6] |
| Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills |
| Leon Gast | When We Were Kings |
| Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher | Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern |
| Isaac Mizrahi | The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century for "Slaughter" |
1997
(50th) | Michael Uys and Lexy Lovell | Riding the Rails | [7] |
| Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer | Liberty! The American Revolution for "Blows Must Decide" |
| John O'Hagan | Wonderland |
| Michèle Ohayon | Colors Straight Up |
| Peter Rosen | First Person Singular: I.M. Pei |
1998
(51st) | Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert and Gordon Quinn | Vietnam, Long Time Coming | [8] |
| Matthew Diamond | Dancemaker |
| Susan Lacy | American Masters for "Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note" |
| Nigel Noble | Great Performances for "Porgy and Bess: An American Voice" |
| Kyra Thompson | Dying to Tell the Story |
1999
(52nd) | Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen | On the Ropes | [9] |
| Barry W. Blaustein | Beyond the Mat |
| Marc Levin | Thug Life in D.C. |
| Errol Morris | Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. |
| Gary Weimberg | The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez-Gomez |
