diff --git a/.helmdocsignore b/.helmdocsignore
index 1871675..2dee046 100644
--- a/.helmdocsignore
+++ b/.helmdocsignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-example-charts/ignored
+example-charts/ignored-zero
+example-charts/ignored-one/Chart.yaml
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6aec8b2..9ab90bb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ test:
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
-	rm helm-docs
+	rm -f helm-docs
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bf806ef..b5501b4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@ in the templates you supply.
 ## Ignoring Chart Directories
 helm-docs supports a `.helmdocsignore` file, exactly like a `.gitignore` file in which one can specify directories to ignore
 when searching for charts. Directories specified need not be charts themselves, so parent directories containing potentially
-many charts can be ignored and none of the charts underneath them will be processed.
+many charts can be ignored and none of the charts underneath them will be processed. You may also directly reference the
+Chart.yaml file for a chart to skip processing for it.
 
 
 ## values.yaml metadata
diff --git a/example-charts/ignored-one/Chart.yaml b/example-charts/ignored-one/Chart.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d185a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example-charts/ignored-one/Chart.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+name: ignored-one
+description: A demonstration of the ability of a .helmdocsignore file to ignore files by Chart.yaml file
+version: "0.2.0"
+home: "https://github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/tree/master/example-charts/ignored-one"
+sources: ["https://github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/tree/master/example-charts/ignored-one"]
+engine: gotpl
+maintainers:
+  - email: norwood.john.m@gmail.com
+    name: John Norwood
diff --git a/example-charts/ignored/values.yaml b/example-charts/ignored-one/values.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from example-charts/ignored/values.yaml
rename to example-charts/ignored-one/values.yaml
diff --git a/example-charts/ignored-zero/Chart.yaml b/example-charts/ignored-zero/Chart.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f48b57d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example-charts/ignored-zero/Chart.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+name: ignored-zero
+description: A demonstration of the ability of a .helmdocsignore file to ignore charts by directory name
+version: "0.2.0"
+home: "https://github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/tree/master/example-charts/ignored-zero"
+sources: ["https://github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/tree/master/example-charts/ignored-zero"]
+engine: gotpl
+maintainers:
+  - email: norwood.john.m@gmail.com
+    name: John Norwood
diff --git a/example-charts/ignored-zero/values.yaml b/example-charts/ignored-zero/values.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0967ef4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example-charts/ignored-zero/values.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{}
diff --git a/example-charts/ignored/Chart.yaml b/example-charts/ignored/Chart.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7d28700..0000000
--- a/example-charts/ignored/Chart.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-apiVersion: v1
-name: ignored
-description: ingored chart
-version: "0.2.0"
-home: "https://github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/example-charts/ignored"
-sources: ["https://github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/example-charts/ignored"]
-engine: gotpl
-maintainers:
-  - email: norwood.john.m@gmail.com
-    name: John Norwood
diff --git a/pkg/helm/chart_finder.go b/pkg/helm/chart_finder.go
index 16d0b4c..65eca50 100644
--- a/pkg/helm/chart_finder.go
+++ b/pkg/helm/chart_finder.go
@@ -1,45 +1,37 @@
 package helm
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	"github.com/norwoodj/helm-docs/pkg/util"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
-	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/ignore"
 )
 
-var defaultIgnore = map[string]bool{
-	".git": true,
-}
-
 func FindChartDirectories() ([]string, error) {
-	ignoreRules := ignore.Empty()
 	ignoreFilename := viper.GetString("ignore-file")
-	ignoreFile, err := os.Open(ignoreFilename)
-
-	if err == nil {
-		ignoreRules, err = ignore.Parse(bufio.NewReader(ignoreFile))
-
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Warnf("Failed to parse ignore rules from file %s", ignoreFilename)
-			ignoreRules = ignore.Empty()
-		}
-	}
-
+	ignoreContext := util.NewIgnoreContext(ignoreFilename)
 	chartDirs := make([]string, 0)
-	err = filepath.Walk(".", func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+
+	err := filepath.Walk(".", func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		if info.IsDir() && (ignoreRules.Ignore(path, info) || defaultIgnore[path]) {
+		absolutePath, _ := filepath.Abs(path)
+
+		if info.IsDir() && ignoreContext.ShouldIgnore(absolutePath, info) {
 			log.Debugf("Ignoring directory %s", path)
 			return filepath.SkipDir
 		}
 
 		if filepath.Base(path) == "Chart.yaml" {
+			if ignoreContext.ShouldIgnore(absolutePath, info) {
+				log.Debugf("Ignoring chart file %s", path)
+				return nil
+			}
+
 			chartDirs = append(chartDirs, filepath.Dir(path))
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/util/git.go b/pkg/util/git.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d36efa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/util/git.go
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+func FindGitRepositoryRoot() (string, error) {
+	path, err := exec.Command("git", "rev-parse", "--show-toplevel").Output()
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	return strings.TrimSpace(string(path)), nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/util/ignore.go b/pkg/util/ignore.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd38e74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/util/ignore.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/ignore"
+)
+
+var defaultIgnore = map[string]bool{
+	".git": true,
+}
+
+type IgnoreContext struct {
+	rules       *ignore.Rules
+	relativeDir string
+}
+
+func parseIgnoreFilePathToRules(filename string) (*ignore.Rules, error) {
+	ignoreFile, err := os.Open(filename)
+
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		log.Debugf("No ignore file found at %s, using empty ignore rules", filename)
+		return ignore.Empty(), nil
+	}
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to open ignore file at %s: %s", filename, err)
+	}
+
+	ignoreRules, err := ignore.Parse(bufio.NewReader(ignoreFile))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse ignore rules from file %s: %s", filename, err)
+	}
+
+	return ignoreRules, nil
+}
+
+func NewIgnoreContext(ignoreFilename string) IgnoreContext {
+	gitRepositoryRoot, err := FindGitRepositoryRoot()
+
+	// If we got an error reading the repository root, then let's try for a ignore file in this directory
+	if err != nil {
+		ignoreRules, err := parseIgnoreFilePathToRules(ignoreFilename)
+
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Warnf("Using empty ignore rules due to error: %s", err)
+			return IgnoreContext{rules: ignore.Empty()}
+		}
+
+		absoluteWorkingDir, _ := filepath.Abs(".")
+		return IgnoreContext{rules: ignoreRules, relativeDir: absoluteWorkingDir}
+	}
+
+	// Otherwise, let's look for a ignore file at the repository root and parse it, storing that files are ignored relative
+	// to that directory
+	ignoreRules, err := parseIgnoreFilePathToRules(filepath.Join(gitRepositoryRoot, ignoreFilename))
+
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Warnf("Using empty ignore rules due to error: %s", err)
+		return IgnoreContext{rules: ignoreRules}
+	}
+
+	return IgnoreContext{rules: ignoreRules, relativeDir: gitRepositoryRoot}
+}
+
+func (i IgnoreContext) ShouldIgnore(path string, fi os.FileInfo) bool {
+	pathRelativeToIgnoreFile, err := filepath.Rel(i.relativeDir, path)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return i.rules.Ignore(pathRelativeToIgnoreFile, fi) || defaultIgnore[pathRelativeToIgnoreFile]
+}