Add a conditional join to your list query, eg: LEFT JOIN `user` ON (`user`.`user_id` = `document`.`owner_id`)
The will allow you to query your list object in more involved ways, filtering on text in tables joined to the primary by foreign keys.
$join (STRING)
$obj_list->addConditionalJoin(' LEFT JOIN `user` ON (`user`.`user_id` = `document`.`owner_id`) ');