Told through first person accounts of former members, THE SYNANON FIX explores the rise and fall of the controversial treatment center Synanon, which grew from a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program in the late 1950s into a communal living experiment that would later draw criticism for abuse and cult-like behavior. Synanon, the brainchild of Charles “Chuck” Dederich, originated in 1958 as a scrappy Santa Monica-based storefront rehab serving heroin addicts who had no place else to go. With remarkable success thanks to a confrontational talk therapy known as “The Game,” Synanon grew to be a darling of the growing recovery community with numerous locations throughout the United States. By attracting non-addicts, so-called “lifestylers” in search of community, and funded through donations, Synanon grew into a complex system of self-sustaining businesses and diverse and egalitarian communal living headed up by the charismatic Chuck and his wife Betty. But as the years went on, the radical therapies became increasingly extreme, degenerating into paranoid behavior and cult-like mandates from Chuck, and culminating in charges of child abuse, assault, and even attempted murder. THE SYNANON FIX explores the organization’s tragic fall from grace as its potential as a revolutionary way of healing spiraled into a profoundly destructive force. HBO Documentary Films presents THE SYNANON FIX A Moxie Films Production, a series by Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey. Directed by Rory Kennedy; written by Mark Bailey, Jeff Swimmer, and Keven McAlester; executive produced by Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey; produced by Alexandra Korba and Keven McAlester; co-produced by Jeff Swimmer. For HBO: executive producers, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Tina Nguyen.