Art for Everybody: Welcome to the World of Thomas Kinkade

Catch it before streaming release—join us for a screening of Art for Everybody (99 mins.; open captioned), an award-winning documentary that peels back the layers of the façade of artist Thomas Kinkade, a complex man divided by two conflicting worlds living in one mind. The screening will be followed by a talkback with the film’s director, Miranda Yousef, moderated by Scott Pukos, Director of Communications for The Little Theatre.

You’ve seen his idyllic village scenes and gardens on everything from canvas to commemorative plates. While his work was disparaged by the elite art establishment as “kitschy,” Thomas Kinkade’s marketing ingenuity (he promoted himself as the “Painter of Light”) propelled his signature style to wild popularity among American evangelicals in the 1990s. After his passing from an alcohol and drug overdose in 2012, Kinkade’s daughters made a discovery that launched an investigation into their father’s true personality—they uncovered a trove of unseen, unexpectedly dark paintings in his vault. Through the voices of skeptical critics, adoring fans, and Kinkade’s closest friends and family, the documentary digs deep to reveal the real man behind the persona.

Art for Everybody is a directorial debut for accomplished cinema editor Miranda Yousef, and it has made BBC Culture’s Top 10 Films for 2025.

About the Director

Miranda Yousef is an accomplished documentary editor whose work has screened at major outlets including Sundance, Tribeca, Netflix and HBO. Selected credits include: National Geographic’s Blink (Telluride 2024); Phoenix Rising (Sundance 2022, HBO); Art & Krimes by Krimes (2023 Emmy winner, MTV Documentary Films); Inequality for All, (Sundance 2013 Special Jury Prize winner); and Academy Award winner Morgan Neville’s Toubadour (Sundance 2011, Emmy nominee). A graduate of Harvard College and UCLA, Yousef won the Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director, Women’s Category, for her graduate thesis film. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Documentary Branch.

To submit a request for ASL interpretation for the talkback, please email access@mag.rochester.edu at least two weeks before the program.

For questions about this program, please email cueyama@mag.rochester.edu. Ticket sales end on Saturday, June 28, at 2:15 pm. This program is free and includes museum admission. Registration is required.

Image courtesy Cozy Cottage Films, LLC / Susan Boat.