In early 2002, Hardwicke planted the seeds of what would become her debut—and breakout—film when she began collaborating on a screenplay with teen Nikki Reed, the daughter of a former boyfriend with whom she had remained close. Drawing on many of Reed's real life experiences as a teen girl rebelling against her single mom and spiraling further out of control into a world of sex, drugs and petty crime, the pair crafted "Thirteen." Although Hardwicke was unable to cast the untried Reed in the lead role of Tracy, she struck gold with actress Even Rachel Wood (with Reed playing her troubled best friend) and, after tweaking and expanding the role of the distraught mother, successfully cast Holly Hunter in the part. The resulting film was riveting and brutal in its honest depiction of modern teens, and prior to its release built a significant amount of art house buzz when Hardwicke won the 2003 Sundance Film Festival's Director's Award for a drama.

Hardwicke returned to the world of rebellious teens for her next project, “Lords of Dogtown” (2005), this time depicting the real-life exploits of the famed Zephyr Skateboard Team from Venice, CA. Drawing inspiration from the popular documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys” (2001), the fictionalized version told the rags-to-riches tale of board rats Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta (the real life Peralta penned the script), who radicalized and revolutionized skateboarding, elevating the sport to new heights and themselves to wanton celebrity. The project was in development for years, with Fred Durst and Jonas Akerlund previously attached to direct. Then David Fincher (“Fight Club”, “Panic Room”) was set to enter principle photography in March 2003, but script rewrites pushed the film back and the director bailed later that summer. Hardwicke grabbed the wheel in fall 2003 and ultimately made a movie that remained true to its subject despite occasional lapses into Hollywood-style sentimentality.