KCTS has "Antiques Roadshow"; programs on aging; healthy housing; and gay couples

There are maps and then there's a birds-eye map of 1905 Spokane, purchased for $400 at an auction and now worth a whole lot of change. To find out just how much, tune in tonight for the first of three "Antiques Roadshow" episodes filmed in Spokane (8 p.m. Mondays through April 14 on KCTS).

The pleasure in watching "Roadshow," is how it validates anyone who's a pack rat and who can't bear to let go of that string of baubles lest they are worth a fortune. On tonight's episode watch folks express shock, awe and even remorse as pictures, a pistol, a pickle canister and even a perky-looking stuffed camel get appraised.

The "Roadshow" episodes are among several programs with a local connection airing on KCTS in April.

"The Art of Aging," a documentary series, concludes 1 p.m. Sunday with a look at caregivers as well as diabetes. Hosted by Ron Regan, the episode features interviews with local residents, including one man whose spouse is battling Alzheimer's, and others who make pickleball a part of their exercise regimes. Video clips of past shows and a full list of resources at artofaging.org.

An argument raised in "The Art of Aging" — that those who live in wealthier communities age better than people in poverty — is at the heart of a powerful, ongoing documentary series exploring socio-economic and racial inequalities in health.

And the third of the four-part series "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick?" (11 p.m. April 16) zeros in on two urban neighborhoods as an example of what's wrong (Richmond, Calif.) and what's right (West Seattle's High Point housing community).

In West Seattle, the film points out, a public-housing complex was gutted and replaced with mixed-income housing that had the community's health as its focus. To address high asthma rates, for example, new housing units included constructing "breathe easy" residences that regulate indoor air quality. The units cost an additional $6,000 more to build but that's less than the cost of two years worth of emergency-room expenses to treat an asthmatic child, according to the film.

The new High Point community garden, library and sidewalks are all featured as other solutions augmenting community well-being. The special does point out a failing: not everyone who was displaced for the new construction has returned.

KCTS launches season four of its local documentary "About Us" series with the flat-out terrific "Inlaws & Outlaws" (10 p.m. Tuesday). Various Northwest couples — straight and gay — talk love and marriage and the result is a movie as tender as it's heartbreaking.

Other films in the Tuesday-night series include "Two Rivers," about Native Americans and whites in Twisp, Okanogan County; "Everett DuPen," a look at the Northwest sculptor; and "In the Shadow of the Chief: The Baldwin and Cooper Story," which looks at mountaineers Jim Baldwin and Ed Cooper.

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916

or fdavila@seattletimes.com