Crowder's career started as a musician and, in 1980, he joined with Philip Jap as his drummer. Jap was signed to A&M Records in 1981, and he recorded one album, and his 1982 single releases, "Save Us" and "Total Erasure", reached numbers 53 and 41 respectively in the UK Singles Chart.[1]
During his time in television he met Stacy Peralta. Crowder went on to edit Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants with the film's director Stacy Peralta. Dogtown and Z-Boys, produced by Agi Orsi and Stacy Peralta, won the audience award and best director award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary in 2002. Crowder also garnered the A.C.E. Eddie for best edited documentary in 2004 for Riding Giants.
In 2006, Crowder teamed up with now long time creative partner, Mark Monroe and producer Morgan Sackett, to form Diamond Docs production company. It has currently 35 films under its belt, including the Academy Award winning The Cove.
The Blue Angels is a documentary film that Crowder directed. It was released on Memorial Day weekend 2024 on Amazon Prime. It was also released in IMAX theaters on May 23, 2024, for a one week run.[6]