The Closer To Truth television program is the definitive series on Cosmos, Consciousness and Meaning, a global journey in search of the vital ideas of existence. It is the most complete, compelling, and accessible series on Cosmos, Consciousness and Meaning ever produced for television.

Closer To Truth explores fundamental issues of universe, brain/mind, religion, meaning and purpose through intimate, candid conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, scholars, theologians and creative thinkers of all kinds. The shows are a rich visual experience, shot entirely on location in high definition with multiple cameras generating rich production values.

Public fascination with questions of Cosmos, Consciousness and particularly of Meaning has grown substantially in recent years. Public debate has been intense, often heated.

Closer To Truth presents to mass audiences these leading-edge ideas in an approachable, rational and balanced manner, and introduces the human personalities behind these ideas. By meeting these change-making characters close-up, the thinkers behind the thoughts, visiting them in their homes, offices, labs, gardens, churches and temples, Closer To Truth humanizes riveting ideas and makes them more accessible and more relevant.

Closer To Truth has 18 seasons of episodes on Cosmos, Consciousness, and Meaning being broadcast, with more in production. Each 30-minute episode features four to seven of the world’s foremost thinkers. The series as a whole features 285 (and growing) such authorities, each recorded in detailed conversations (between two and eight hours), in what we believe to be the most comprehensive and definitive treatment of these topics ever presented in visual or electronic media.  Below is a complete list of topics covered:

• Cosmos - cosmology, universe, multiverse, beginning of universe, far future of universe, end of universe, quantum physics, time, information, complexity, emergence, fine-tuning, metaphysics, nature of physical laws, philosophy of cosmology, philosophy of physics, science & religion, what things exist, nature of nothing, why anything at all, critical thinking, etc.
• Consciousness - mystery of consciousness, essence of consciousness, mind-body problems, brain/mind, brain function, mental activities, subconscious, free will, free will and moral responsibility, persons and selves, personal identity, altered states of consciousness, what things are conscious, souls, life after death, alien intelligences, parapsychology, cosmos & consciousness, physicalism vs nonphysicalism, belief systems, critical thinking, etc.
• Meaning - philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, theism, atheism, agnosticism, ideas of God, proofs of God, disproofs of God, attributes of God, problems of God, alternative concepts of God, God and time, eschatology, judgment, afterlife, purpose in the cosmos, search for meaning, meaning of life, critical thinking, etc.

Closer To Truth is hosted, written and executive produced by Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn. It is produced by The Kuhn Foundation and Getzels Gordon Productions. Peter Getzels is Closer To Truth's award-winning producer/director. © The Kuhn Foundation 2000-2014.

Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, writer, host and executive producer of Closer To Truth, the PBS/public television series on cosmos, consciousness and meaning (God / philosophy of religion) that presents leading scientists, philosophers and creative thinkers discussing fundamental questions. Dr. Kuhn has published over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? (with John Leslie); Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief; Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future; How China’s Leaders Think; and The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (the first biography of a living Chinese leader published in China and China’s best-selling book in 2005). His articles include "Why This Universe" and “Levels of Nothing” (Skeptic magazine) and “Science as Democratizer” (American Scientist). He is a featured “Expert Voice” on www.Space.com (multimedia essays on “Confronting the Multiverse: What Infinitely Universes would Mean”, “Testing the Multiverse: Beyond the Limits of Science?”, "Forget Space-Time: Information May Create the Cosmos", "The Illusion of Time: What's Real?", "Is Our Universe a Fake?") and on LiveScience.com (“The Singularity, Virtual Immortality and the Trouble with Consciousness”, “Is Your ‘Self’ Just an Illusion?”, “Can Your ‘Self’ Survive Death?”). He is a commentator on China for the BBC, CNN, CCTV, Bloomberg, and a featured columnist in the South China Morning Post and China Daily. He spoke at the launch of President Xi Jinping’s book, The Governance of China. He is the creator, executive producer and host of the Emmy Award-winning China’s Challenges series, broadcast on PBS stations and in China, and Closer to China with R.L. Kuhn on CCTV News (China politics, economics, society - http://cctv.cntv.cn/lm/closertochina/). He is an international corporate strategist and investment banker. He has a BA in Human Biology (Johns Hopkins), SM in Management (MIT), and PhD in Anatomy/Brain Research (UCLA).

Peter Getzels

Peter Getzels is the Emmy Award-winning, producer/director and co-creator of Closer To Truth. He comes to filmmaking as an anthropologist, explorer, and mountaineer. Getzels is noted for high- concept, cutting-edge films that have been distributed around the world. A seasoned filmmaker of observational narratives, he has worked in over 40 countries. Getzels conducted his fieldwork in the Peruvian Andes, spent a winter in the Himalayan villages of Ladakh, hunted and sledded with the Inuit in Greenland and kayaked from north to south along the coast of Vietnam. His films have taken him to war zones, to hill tribes in Southeast Asia, to ships in the South Pacific and up some of the world’s highest peaks. Recent award-winning feature length theatrical documentaries include The Penguin Counters, filmed in the Antratic as well as Harvest of Empire; which won Best of Independent documentaries from Cine Golden Eagle, Best Documentary from the Imagen Foundation, and the ABC News Video Source Award from the IDA among other awards. Getzels has worked in China on many projects including series director/producer of the Emmy Award-winning China’s Challenges. Getzels has a BA in Anthropology & Comparative Religion (Bowdoin College), a M.Sc. in Anthropology (London School of Economics) and a MFA (National Film and TV School, England). In addition to running boutique production company Getzels Gordon Productions, Getzels has worked as staff producer in the BBC Science Department, as well as staff director and series producer at National Geographic. 

The Kuhn Foundation

The Kuhn Foundation has operated educational, cultural, and science/philosophy projects: the pursuit and dissemination of new knowledge and understanding in science and philosophy, the production of classical music events, and informational exchanges between the United States and China. Currently, The Kuhn Foundation’s primary project is the production and broadcast of the public television/PBS stations series Closer To Truth along with its website and YouTube channel. Previously, The Kuhn Foundation produced the critically acclaimed film Khachaturian on the life and music of the Armenian-Soviet composer, which won the Best Documentary award at the 2003 Hollywood Film Festival, and a series of award-winning China-related documentaries. The Kuhn Foundation was founded and funded by Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who is its chairman and president.

Getzels Gordon Productions

Getzels Gordon Productions (G2) has a long track record of award-winning documentaries made throughout the world for British, American, European, and Chinese television. Based in Oxford, England for sixteen years, now in Washington D.C., G2 specializes in science, anthropology, adventure, and religion, pushing the boundaries of observational storytelling and discovering new ventures in cutting-edge science. Currently, G2 is dedicated to the production of Closer To Truth, broadcast on PBS and public TV channels and distributed on its website and YouTube channel. G2 was founded by Peter Getzels, who runs the company along with his partner, Harriet Gordon.