For The Love of Friends

Set against the lead-up to a stage play based on the same story, FOR THE LOVE OF FRIENDS is a documentary that blends performance rehearsal clips with interview and archival footage to highlight the remarkable life and work of activist Brent Nicholson Earle. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Brent refused to watch his friends suffer due to government inaction and public ignorance about the disease. His audacious response in 1986 was to embark on a 10, 000-mile run around the perimeter of the United States to draw attention to the plight of AIDS patients. He performed this remarkable feat amid public backlash, a homophobic media blackout, his own health challenges, and an inconvenient lack of any long-distance training. After enduring blisters, exhaustion, ignorance and fear, he returns home to his own HIV diagnosis. Though the run finishes, Brent's activism never stops.

Episode Duration: 1 hour 26 minutes and 32 seconds

Episode Number:


Watch For The Love of Friends - Clips, Episodes & Previews




NHPBS Over-the-Air Broadcast

WENH-TV Ch. 11 Durham

WLED-TV Ch. 48 Littleton

WEKW-TV Ch. 18 Keene

W50DP-D Ch. 50 Hanover

W34DQ-D Ch. 34 Pittsburg

Cable and Satellite Channels


NHPBS Five Channels

NHPBS - 11.1

NH Explore - 11.2

NH World - 11.3

NH Create - 11.4

NH Kids - 11.5

Learn More


NHPBS NHPBS Passport Passport

Grantchester | Episode 1
Dynamic Planet | Ice
America ReFramed | Como Vivimos (How We Live)
Professor T | Heir to the Throne
D.I. Ray | Rivals
Local, USA | Public Enemies, Private Friends
Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution | Rock the Boat
Pompeii: The New Dig | Episode 3
My Music with Rhiannon Giddens | Episode 6
Antiques Roadshow | I Was There
Great Performances | Purlie Victorious
Nature | Wild Ireland: Kingdom of Stone
After Action | Serving with Pride
Poetry in America | Steps
The Ghost Army | The Ghost Army
Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story | Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story
MaryLand | Episode 3
Guilt | Episode 2
American Experience | The Riot Report
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow | Art Happens Here with John Lithgow
AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange | Freedom Hill
American Masters | The Incomparable Mr. Buckley (ASL)
Changing Planet | Coral Special
Independent Lens | One With the Whale
Through Our Eyes | Uprooted
Next at the Kennedy Center | Joshua Redman where are we
Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator | Ides of March
The Real Story of Mr Bates vs The Post Office | The Real Story of Mr Bates vs The Post Office
Mr Bates vs The Post Office | Episode 1
Finding Your Roots | Viewers Like You