≡ Menu

Full Length Tiny House Documentary: An Exploration into the Tiny House Movement


This post contains affiliate links.

This tiny house documentary was created by Kirsten Dirksen, it’s called We the Tiny House People. In the last few years, we’ve gotten to see a lot of tiny house and simple living videos, and most of them are thanks to her.

Nobody has been more dedicated to bringing you closer and closer to these homes and their inhabitants than Kirsten Dirksen of Faircompanies.com. Her first interview was with Jay Shafer was approximately five years ago and it has now reached more than 1 million views.

Since then she has gone on to cover so much more, including Jenine Alexander’s self-designed and built $3,5000 tiny house made from recycled materials. After filming hundreds of hours worth of simple living footage- from people living in converted shipping containers, garages, houseboats, sheds, tree houses, and Airstream trailers- she has now released her first documentary (see below).

Updated January 3, 2019

Tiny House Documentary: We The Tiny House People – Dive into the World of Tiny Homes

We the Tiny House People, a documentary by Kirsten Dirksen on the Tiny House Movement

Photo Credits Kirsten Dirksen / YouTube

A Room of Your Own Tiny House by Stephen Marshall in California Young Ladys DIY Tiny House Built for Less Than 10k – Kitchen Young Ladys DIY Tiny House Built for Less Than 10k Tiny House Documentary – Jay Shafer Tiny House Tiny House Documentary – Jay Shafer Tiny House Loft

Photo Credits Kirsten Dirksen / YouTube

You can watch We The Tiny House People right now directly below. Scroll down further if you want to watch the full version instead of the preview trailer.

VIDEO: We The Tiny House People Trailer (Preview)

Length: 11:13

VIDEO: Full-Length Tiny House Documentary by Kirsten Dirksen (Full)

Length: 1:21:47

Learn how this documentary was made and sign up for our Tiny House Newsletter if you already haven’t (it’s delivered via email for free).

If you enjoyed We The Tiny House People, help us spread the word by sharing and “Liking” using the buttons below then tell us what you love most in the comments. Thank you!

You can share this using the e-mail and social media re-share buttons below. Thanks!

If you enjoyed this you’ll LOVE our Free Daily Tiny House Newsletter with even more!

You can also join our Small House Newsletter!

Also, try our Tiny Houses For Sale Newsletter! Thank you!

More Like This: Tiny Houses | THOW | Videos

See The Latest: Go Back Home to See Our Latest Tiny Houses

This post contains affiliate links.

The following two tabs change content below.

Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 32 comments… add one }
  • harry berggren
    May 2, 2012, 11:15 am

    Great documentary! This does a better job of ‘stating the case’, in 1:21 min., than a year reading tiny house blog! Sorry, Alex…It’s all good!
    h.b.

  • Olive seeker
    May 2, 2012, 4:09 pm

    I saw the preview and loved it… I have loved all the videos I’ve seen that are now part of the preview. I am looking forward to seeing the full doc and feel that this filmmakers’s videos have influenced me greatly and have been a big part of my education to date. So, looking forward. PS love the music in the preview.

  • Val
    May 2, 2012, 5:54 pm

    My earlier coments may have seemed more harsh then i meant them to be. While I believe this type of music/sound track may be an acquired taste, I should have noted that I have loved and follow much of Kirstten Dirksons work on Tiny/Small House/Living Spaces. In fact it was one such video that initially turned me on to the idea of living small and pursuing the concept of building a small house for myself. If it was not for Kirsten and her great work I would not be breaking ground next week on the foundation for my Small/Tiny house. With that said just wanted to note that I love this site/blog for all the inspiration it continues to bring me and I apologize if I offended anyone earlier.

    • May 5, 2012, 5:12 am

      Hi Val,

      I’m not offended about your comments about the soundtrack. I knew I was taking a risk when I chose it (actually a 20-year-old musician created it for me as she too loves tiny homes) and it turns out that people either love it or hate it. A lot of people also complain about my voiceover and I realize I don’t read in the traditional way I learned when I worked in tv, but I’d rather my voice not distract from the video.. and I also recorded it in our very small storage closet (the only place in the house without an echo).

      I’m also so pleased that one of my videos turned you on to the idea of living small. I’d love to hear more about your story and your new home. You can email me at kirstendirksen [at] faircompanies [dot] com.

      Best of luck,
      Kirsten

      • sesameB
        May 9, 2012, 4:21 pm

        rock on Kirsten!! rock on! Your work is 4 stars out of 5!!!!!

  • Jay Shafer
    May 3, 2012, 12:49 am

    Loved it!

    • May 4, 2012, 12:58 pm

      Thanks Jay!

    • sesameB
      May 9, 2012, 4:22 pm

      Jay, you and your work speaks volumes, too. Hi from Arkansas!!! I viewed this film twice. EXCELLENT.

  • Sue Reynolds
    May 3, 2012, 10:25 pm

    Just terrific documentary. I really loved the subtle subtexts that were woven throughout. I will be forwarding this on to other design professionals and the other “seekers” of my circle.

    Small living which creates space for an expanded life should be the centerpiece of any discussion between housing design professionals and their clients.

    Bravo!

    Sue Reynolds
    Home At Last

    • May 4, 2012, 12:59 pm

      Thank you Sue, really glad you enjoyed it and that you’re passing it along to others who will likely love it as well. 🙂

  • Stephan F.
    May 4, 2012, 4:48 am

    Even $11,000 for a tiny house seems a bit steep to me. There is a book by Lamar Alexander that tells you that you can build one for only $2K!! He goes into using solar power and green living in general. A very logical extension of living this life style.

    • May 4, 2012, 1:03 pm

      Hey Stephan, I own a copy of one of Lamar’s books and was able to learn quite a bit from his experiences. I have a post on his cabin here on THT too. And he’s got a bunch of videos he’s put up as well, if you’re interested in “simple solar homesteading”. There are SO MANY ways to do this whole housing thing, that’s the best part. Some pull it off for $3,500 and others spend $35,000. It’s all beautiful to me. 😀

  • May 6, 2012, 4:47 pm

    Wow! I am newly inspired to get back to work on my tiny house. My project is a 1920’s filling station (14′ x 16′) that I am restoring to its original glory. Thank you Tiny House people for bringing light to tiny houses.

    • May 8, 2012, 5:30 pm

      That’s awesome John. I hope you can share some photos and more details for us later. Have a great day!

  • Pam
    May 13, 2012, 6:34 am

    finally getting around to viewing the movie but when I click on the ‘start’ arrow I get message “this video is currently unavailable” -ditto for the trailer – what gives?
    Pam

  • sesameB
    May 14, 2012, 12:39 pm

    People, I viewed this film again.
    Ms. Dirksen is a magical truth-teller, artist, and conduit to kindness. If I had my druthers, every child in the world would have compulsory homework to view this film. Best of all, this film offers children (and people of all ages) ways they can be part of the solution today and in the future. With each profile, Ms. Dirksen examines the impact of peoples’ choices for hosing themselves on the Earth, and her main thrust — that our choices influence the world around us-will remain true indefinitely.
    Graham Hill is right on the fact that this century is about cutting back on space, friends, finances, media! We have a culture of excess, and we need to edit one’s life. Editing is the skill of this century.
    The school teacher’s comments were correct in that compact living makes sense. Awesome! And, last but not least the interview with the mixed gray hair artist Heather Wilcoxon’s house boat lifestyle stole the show. Finally, the bachelor, “black kettle”, was an interesting character. Funny and adorable lifestyle!
    Living small in rural sunny Arkansas

  • LD
    July 17, 2013, 6:04 pm

    What a fantastic array of living spaces, she must have had a lot of fun going out to all the folks and their homes! I’d like to see more forums for these to come out into the public eye.

    Next time though, if you do another film, leave out the psychotic music, the less the better.

  • Connie
    July 7, 2014, 10:28 am

    I liked it–even the music, which I expected to hate because of previous comments. In fact, I didn’t notice when the music stopped at the beginning and started again at the end. I consider that well done.

    I have been considering a tiny home for awhile, but, pretty much, concluded that the way I live wouldn’t lend itself to tiny–smaller yes, but not tiny. I am constantly in the process of making things–sewing, cooking, preserving, fermenting, painting, gardening, building, etc. all these things require space. I live by what I do and all of it requires tools and space. If I went out to a job somewhere and bought things instead of producing them I could live in much less space, but my quality of life would be drastically diminished. I am still drawn to tiny and considering moving to a region where outdoor living is inviting for more months of the year. If I go tiny where I am I’ll end up with multiple structures I “operate” out of or storage units that serve no practical purpose. I keep following the tiny house movement because I know the solution will pop up eventually.

    Thanks for the movie. The information is inspiring, and gives me hope that we will be able to solve lots of the problems we face living in our oversized economy.

  • Lisa E.
    March 23, 2016, 6:23 pm

    Please put this full length video on YT and then give us the link so we can refer to it when we need to. There are a lot of good ideas here (and it will help spread the news about the TH movement.) 😀

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.