BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN

ENTERTAINMENT & RESEARCH

TO HELP THE NEXT GENERATION THRIVE

Media has power. Content creators have an opportunity. Research can help.

Featured News

  • NOW OPEN! Comedy for Common Ground A Student-Led Creative Challenge

    180 Degrees Consulting at UC Berkeley (180 DC) and the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) are launching a national competition for students who believe humor isn’t just entertainment, it’s impact.

  • NEW TIP SHEET! Girls & Women in Kids Media

    Our newest tip sheet, created using our AI research tool, AskYalda, and backed by the latest research, it covers everything from giving female characters real agency and diverse bodies, to representing LGBTQ+ and disabled girls as fully realized people. Download it and help us raise the bar for what girls see on screen.

  • Beyond the Love Story: What "Wuthering Heights" Reveals About Broken Systems

    Director of Communications for First Place For Youth and partner of our Narrative Change & Social Impact (NCSI) InitiativeJayme Catalano reframes Heathcliff not as a romantic antihero but as a portrait of a child failed by every system around him, and what that means for how we tell stories about foster youth today.

  • NEW RESEARCH! Gen Alpha and Gen Z: Evolving Masculinity

    The data from our 2025 snapshot shows that the next generation of viewers is eager for a version of masculinity rooted in connection.

  • A Blueprint for High-Quality Teen Content

    CSS has partnered with YouTube on its new Teen Creator Guide. Working with YouTube’s Youth Advisory Committee and experts from organizations including the American Psychological Association and Unicef, CSS helped bring teen voice and research insights into a guide for storytellers around the world.

  • CSS 2025 Impact Report

    Read our 2025 Impact Report to learn about milestones and progress we have made with your support!

THE POWER OF STORIES

Drawing of clap board for film

Stories move hearts and minds in a way that numbers alone can’t. We all know it inherently. And a growing body of research supports it.

THE IMPACT ON YOUTH

Media impact on youth

Good intentions are important, but often not sufficient. Research can help ground us in how to create content responsibly.

Importance of research

THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

The brain is more malleable during early childhood and adolescence than at any other time of our lives. And young people today report consuming more than 9 hours of media a day. 

Ways We Help

Clients We’ve Worked With

Working out of UCLA, the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) is a nonprofit helping connect the biggest names in Hollywood and creative professionals everywhere with evidence-based insights from psychology to positively impact kids, teens, and young adults.

We’re the only organization with the institutional affiliation, academic credibility, and entertainment expertise to meet youth and young adults where they are: on screens.

Hollwood sign UCLA center

“Although insights that can guide responsible storytelling emerge regularly from the work of social scientists, they are often slow to make their way into the hands of the entertainment industry. That’s why, when I obtained my doctorate in psychology after almost two decades working in the movie industry, I created the Center for Scholars & Storytellers.”