| Year | Program | Episode | Nominee(s) | Network |
|---|
| American Experience | "My Lai" | Barak Goodman | PBS |
| The Amazing Race | "I Think We're Fighting the Germans, Right?" | Bertram van Munster | CBS |
| By the People: The Election of Barack Obama | Amy Rice and Alicia Sams | HBO |
| Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut) | "Lust for Glory" | Bill Jones and Ben Timlett | IFC |
| Terror in Mumbai | Dan Reed | HBO |
| Gasland | Josh Fox | HBO |
| The Amazing Race | "You Don't Get Paid Unless You Win" | Bertram van Munster | CBS |
| American Masters | "A Letter to Elia/Reflecting on Kazan" | Kent Jones and Martin Scorsese | PBS |
| Becoming Chaz | Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato | OWN |
| Top Chef | "Give Me Your Huddled Masses" | Paul Starkman | Bravo |
| George Harrison: Living in the Material World | Martin Scorsese | HBO |
| The Amazing Race | "Let Them Drink Their Haterade" | Bertram van Munster | CBS |
| American Masters | "Woody Allen: A Documentary" | Robert B. Weide | PBS |
| Project Runway | "Finale, Part 2" | Craig Spirko | Lifetime |
| Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | HBO |
| American Masters | "Mel Brooks: Make a Noise" | Robert Trachtenberg | PBS |
| Ethel | Rory Kennedy | HBO |
| Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God | Alex Gibney |
| Survivor | "Live Finale and Reunion (Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites)" | Glenn Weiss | CBS |
| "Live Finale and Reunion (Philippines)" | Michael Simon |
| The Square | Jehane Noujaim | Netflix |
| The Amazing Race | "Part Like the Red Sea" | Bertram van Munster | CBS |
| Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey | "Standing Up in the Milky Way" | Brannon Braga | Fox |
| Project Runway | "Sky's the Limit" | Craig Spirko | Lifetime |
| Shark Tank | "Episode 501" | Ken Fuchs | ABC |
| Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief | Alex Gibney | HBO |
| Citizenfour | Laura Poitras | HBO |
| Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways | "Washington D.C." | Dave Grohl |
| The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst | "Chapter 2: Poor Little Rich Boy" | Andrew Jarecki |
| Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck | Brett Morgen |
| Making a Murderer | "Fighting for Their Lives" | Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi | Netflix |
| Cartel Land | Matthew Heineman | A&E |
| Chef's Table | "Gaggan Anand" | David Gelb | Netflix |
| He Named Me Malala | Davis Guggenheim | Nat Geo |
| What Happened, Miss Simone? | Liz Garbus | Netflix |
| O.J.: Made in America | "Part 3" | Ezra Edelman | ESPN |
| Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds | Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens | HBO |
| Planet Earth II | "Cities" | Fredi Devas | BBC America |
| "Islands" | Elizabeth White |
| 13th | Ava DuVernay | Netflix |
2018
[28] | Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program |
|---|
| Jane | Brett Morgen | Nat Geo |
| Icarus | Bryan Fogel | Netflix |
| The Vietnam War | "Episode 8: The History of the World (April 1969-May 1970)" | Ken Burns and Lynn Novick | PBS |
| Wild Wild Country | "Part 3" | Chapman Way and Maclain Way | Netflix |
| The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling | Judd Apatow | HBO |
2019
[29] |
| Free Solo | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin | Nat Geo |
| Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened | Chris Smith | Netflix |
| Leaving Neverland | Dan Reed | HBO |
| RBG | Julie Cohen and Betsy West | CNN |
| Three Identical Strangers | Tim Wardle |