Thomas Allen Harris uses film, video, photography, and performance to explore family and identity in a participatory model of filmmaking that he has been pioneering since 1990. His deeply personal films have received acclaim at international film/art festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, FESPACO, Outfest, and Melbourne Art Festival; have broadcast on PBS, AfroPOP, Sundance Channel, ARTE, CBC, SBN and NZT; exhibited at MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art's 1995 Biennial, Corcoran Gallery, the Long Beach Museum of Art, and Qwangju Biennale.

In 2019, Harris created and hosted the PBS series Family Pictures USA, a new format of television that examines America through the lens of the family photographic album. The series grew out of Harris' touring roadshow Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, which uses family photographs to transform audiences into storytellers.

Mr. Harris has received numerous awards including Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and United States Artist Fellowships as well as an NAACP Image Award, African Oscar, and Emmy and Peabody nominations. A graduate of Harvard College and member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Mr. Harris is a Senior Lecturer at Yale University, jointly appointed in African American Studies and Film & Media Studies.