ADAPTIVE is an enlightening documentary series that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of world-class Paralympic athletes. These dedicated individuals are not only focused on their grueling training regimens as they strive to qualify for and, ultimately, compete in the Paralympic Games, but are also passionate advocates for the disabled community. This series showcases their unwavering commitment to excellence and resilience in the face of challenges, and profound impact as role models, inspiring others through their extraordinary journeys. The structure of the series follows a group of athletes through one Paralympic Games cycle – on and off the field, in victory and in defeat.
Our goals are wildly ambitious and yet incredibly important to the disability advocacy community. They include:
Ultimately, the show highlights the ability of humans to modify or adjust to new conditions or circumstances, demonstrating our ability to evolve and respond to challenges. If we are adapting to life, we are alive, we are growing, and we are moving. We are all ADAPTIVE.
ADAPTIVE was created by two filmmakers united by a passion for sports, high-level storytelling, and social impact.
Clayton Frech, a disability advocate and veteran of the adaptive sports movement, realized that scaling his nonprofit, Angel City Sports, was incredibly difficult. He also noticed disability coverage in the media was often inaccurate. Clayton decided that storytelling could provide another avenue to create meaningful impact.
Ryan Porush, meanwhile, was actively developing new ideas around world-class athletes. Ryan brought relevant experience in unscripted sports projects with VICE Sports and GQ Sports, and had directed two highly acclaimed social-impact feature documentaries: The Passengers was about the final community of Ethiopian Jews and A School Grows in Watts was about an overachieving elementary school.
Filming began in late 2020 with a vision to create a follow-series focused on the pandemic-stricken Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (held in 2021). However, in the summer of 2022, with funding and distribution challenges, the team decided to pivot the project toward Paris, rather than Tokyo, as its climax. This solidified ADAPTIVE as a series structured around each four-year Paralympic cycle, or “quad.” At times, with funding dwindling, the team was forced to reconsider the project’s format. At one point, ADAPTIVE was going to be a two-episode series released before Paris.
Ultimately, the team pivoted again and determined that it would be impossible to complete a series about Paralympians competing in Paris without documenting their experiences and results at the Paris Games themselves. The team doubled down on its belief that filming in Paris was essential.
The team also challenged the traditional assumption that Olympic and Paralympic content can only succeed within a narrow window surrounding the Games. The team also brought Paralympic sponsors and non-partners together with a shared vision.
The production committed to filming the Paris Games and releasing a three-episode series in 2025. The Paris production included multiple team training camps, families touring the city, loved ones in the stands, and post-Games events and media. Much of that footage appears in the third episode and completes the arc of the series. The team spent every remaining production dollar in Paris.
In March 2025, more than six months after the Paris Paralympics, the production secured its most important partner, DICK’S Sporting Goods and its studio, Cookie Jar & A Dream. DICK’S support enabled the team to complete the series and ultimately release ADAPTIVE on Peacock on July 28, 2025, alongside the USATF Outdoor & Para National Championships. The team is now developing Season 2: Los Angeles.
ADAPTIVE was dead in the water many times. It was finished only through the sweat equity, goodwill, and deep commitment of the entire team. The series ultimately embodied its name, evolving and adjusting to challenges, obstacles, and a lack of resources throughout its inaugural season.
Key Features
ADAPTIVE succeeded because the results reflected the goals set from the beginning: authentically portray Paralympic athletes, inspire and educate audiences, elevate disability storytelling, and grow the Paralympic movement.
The series reached a meaningful mainstream audience, generating 234,783 content starts on Peacock through June 2026, with 76% occurring in the first 90 days and a Top 10 Peacock ranking during launch month. With no dedicated paid-media budget, the campaign also generated approximately 2.5 million modeled earned-media opportunities-to-see across 18+ confirmed placements, including PEOPLE, Reuters, TODAY, NBC Sports, Yahoo Sports and Team USA.
Social media amplified that reach: Ezra brought 600K+ combined TikTok/Instagram followers at launch, while Team USA distributed a 30-second cutdown. Across Ezra, Team USA, Peacock, DICK’S and Therabody, the core social ecosystem represented an estimated 8M gross followers.
More importantly, the response showed that audiences understood the story the team set out to tell. Critics and viewers praised the series’ emotional honesty, filmmaking and portrayal of disabled athletes as elite competitors and multidimensional people. Parents reported that the series sparked meaningful conversations with their children, while audience reviews described it as powerful, uplifting and a “must watch.” Strong ratings, including 8.2/10 on IMDb and 4.5/5 from Cryptic Rock, reinforced the quality of the storytelling.
The team considers that success: ADAPTIVE reached beyond the Paralympic community and helped expand how audiences see disability, sport and human potential.
