An historic old theater, built in 1938, renovated and reopened in 1999, The Rafael is one of the few non-profit theaters in the US.
It is now known as the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center and still maintains and uses old film projectors instead of digital.
The venue shows films that include independent documentaries, classic films, retrospectives, features, and international works, and hosts special events for filmmakers from around the world.
Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, Nick Nolte, Matthew Broderick and director Alan Rudolph were guests at the reopening weekend.

The theater is found on 4th Street in downtown San Rafael which is the main street of the downtown area. This street was featured in one of George Lucas' earliest successes in film "American Graffiti".