This unflinching documentary about homeless teens living on the streets of Seattle — "America's Most Livable City" — in the early 80s began as a photo-essay in Life magazine and reflects those roots by refusing to structure itself around an easy narrative or comment on the lives of the kids it follows. Escaping poverty, abuse or abandonment, they are forced to rely on panhandling, prostitution, petty crime and drugs just to get by. By sympathetically observing their impossibly hard lives, Streetwise honors their daily battles and shares the pride these kids feel in simply surviving.