Ty Smalley

The film documents the lives of several public-school students and their families in Georgia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma during the 2009-10 school year.

There is a particular focus on two students who are regularly bullied, one student who has been incarcerated after brandishing a gun on a school bus in response to being bullied, and the families of two boys who were victims of bullying and died by suicide.

It describes in great detail how the average American student cannot defend themselves against ridicule.

David Long, the father of Tyler, speaks about his son's social issues (Tyler was diagnosed with autism) and how he suspected early on that the boy might become a victim of bullying.

He mentions that Tyler's peers would demoralize him verbally and do things like taking his clothes when he showered, forcing him to leave naked, and shoving him into lockers.

David says these actions contributed to Tyler's decision to commit suicide in 2009, at the age of 17.

Alex Libby, who was born after 26-weeks' gestation and diagnosed with autism, is 12 years old.

He is interviewed about his family and how nervous he is to begin a new school year, as he has issues with making friends.

His attempts to interact with his peers at the bus stop and on the bus are met with violent threats on both occasions.

At school, other students are also bullied, and one of the school's vice principals attempts to resolve one incident by simply saying the children should get along.

Kelby Johnson is a 16-year-old who has come out to his hometown as a lesbian.

He states that, due to the town's religious and societal beliefs, he no longer feels welcome, and was once even hit by a group of boys in a minivan, who accelerated into him as he was walking down the road.

Kelby admits that he used to self-harm and has tried to commit suicide three times.

His family mentions that when Kelby’s sexual orientation became known, even close friends stopped talking to them.

During the school year, Kelby's peers bully and ignore him, and he quit playing basketball due to the verbal abuse of his teammates.

He mentions that even the teachers harass him, such as by calling him as part of a separate roll call list.

Although his parents have offered to move several times, Kelby refuses, stating that, “If I leave, they win.”

Ja’Meya Jackson is a 14-year-old who lives with her mother in Yazoo County, Mississippi.

An honor student and talented basketball player with plans to join the Navy in order to help her mother, she was repeatedly harassed by her peers.

One day, she finally had enough, and brought her mother's gun to school and brandished it on the school bus to intimidate her bullies into leaving her alone.

After a brief standoff, she was tackled to the ground by another student and arrested by the police, and she is now incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility and facing felony charges for kidnapping and assaulting everyone on the bus.

Tyler’s parents work to bring attention to the issue of bullying at the schools in their town and alter the "kids will be kids" attitude they feel is widespread among the staff.

They organize a community meeting, and it is well-attended, but no representatives of the school district show up.

One of Tyler's friends describes an atmosphere in which teachers do not intervene and blame the victim, and another child speaks about his experiences being bullied to the point that he would stay home from school to avoid seeing his bullies.

All charges against Ja’Meya are dropped, and she is put in the custody of the state until her doctors release her from a psychiatric ward, perhaps in a few months.

Ty Smalley committed suicide at age 11 after being bullied relentlessly because of his short stature.

School officials claim that bullying wasn’t a factor, though Trey Wallace, Ty's best friend, says otherwise.

At Ty’s funeral, his father has to physically support his mother as they "tuck the baby in one more time."

Trey later explains that he used to be a bully, but as he got older he realized the harm and hurt he did to people, and mentions that when he would try to stand up for Ty, the latter would always tell him that, "it's not worth it", or, "be better than them."

Kelby finds a girlfriend and small group of friends, and claims he would not be here, or be able to go to school, without them.

He again refuses to let his bullies "win".

Concerned for Alex’s well-being, the filmmakers show his parents and school officials footage of him on the school bus being threatened, punched, and stabbed with a pencil.

When his mother talks to him, Alex says he is not sure if he even feels the abuse anymore and asks who his friends are, if not the bullies.

Bully (originally titled The Bully Project) is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Lee Hirsch and produced by Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen.

It documents the lives of five students who face bullying on a daily basis in U.S. schools.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2011.

On the film's official website, the filmmakers promoted Bully as a tool to help combat bullying and facilitate an anti-bullying movement, but these goals were jeopardized by its initial R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.

Following a failed appeal of the rating, the Weinstein Company released the film unrated in theaters in the United States on March 30, 2012.

After some profanity was removed, the film was re-rated PG-13, and this version of the film was released in theaters on April 13.

The PG-13 version of the film was released on Blu-ray and DVD nearly a year later, on February 12, 2013.