- Awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship ("genius grant") (2002)
- Recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal which he received from President Obama.
- Graduated from New Lincoln School.
- Received a BFA from CUNY/City College Of New York in 1976.
- Father Dr. Stanley Earl Nelson Sr. was a dentist who was a pioneer in reconstructive dentistry and taught at New York University.
- Attended Beloit College in Wisconsin, and later transferred to six different colleges including New York University, Morris Brown College, and Hunter College before finally graduating from the Leonard Davis Film School at the City College of New York.
- Received fellowships at the American Film Institute, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Columbia University.
- After college he did an apprenticeship with the documentary filmmaker William Greaves.
- Twins daughters Kay and Nola.
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