diff --git a/builtin/providers/docker/config.go b/builtin/providers/docker/config.go
index 199182744..d3a6cb121 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/docker/config.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/docker/config.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package docker
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"path/filepath"
 
 	dc "github.com/fsouza/go-dockerclient"
@@ -10,21 +11,32 @@ import (
 // Docker API compatible host.
 type Config struct {
 	Host     string
+	Ca       string
+	Cert     string
+	Key      string
 	CertPath string
 }
 
 // NewClient() returns a new Docker client.
 func (c *Config) NewClient() (*dc.Client, error) {
-	// If there is no cert information, then just return the direct client
-	if c.CertPath == "" {
-		return dc.NewClient(c.Host)
+	if c.Ca != "" || c.Cert != "" || c.Key != "" {
+		if c.Ca == "" || c.Cert == "" || c.Key == "" {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("ca_material, cert_material, and key_material must be specified")
+		}
+
+		return dc.NewTLSClientFromBytes(c.Host, []byte(c.Cert), []byte(c.Key), []byte(c.Ca))
 	}
 
-	// If there is cert information, load it and use it.
-	ca := filepath.Join(c.CertPath, "ca.pem")
-	cert := filepath.Join(c.CertPath, "cert.pem")
-	key := filepath.Join(c.CertPath, "key.pem")
-	return dc.NewTLSClient(c.Host, cert, key, ca)
+	if c.CertPath != "" {
+		// If there is cert information, load it and use it.
+		ca := filepath.Join(c.CertPath, "ca.pem")
+		cert := filepath.Join(c.CertPath, "cert.pem")
+		key := filepath.Join(c.CertPath, "key.pem")
+		return dc.NewTLSClient(c.Host, cert, key, ca)
+	}
+
+	// If there is no cert information, then just return the direct client
+	return dc.NewClient(c.Host)
 }
 
 // Data ia structure for holding data that we fetch from Docker.
diff --git a/builtin/providers/docker/provider.go b/builtin/providers/docker/provider.go
index cee438ae3..614865307 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/docker/provider.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/docker/provider.go
@@ -17,6 +17,28 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 				Description: "The Docker daemon address",
 			},
 
+			"ca_material": &schema.Schema{
+				Type:          schema.TypeString,
+				Optional:      true,
+				DefaultFunc:   schema.EnvDefaultFunc("DOCKER_CA_MATERIAL", ""),
+				ConflictsWith: []string{"cert_path"},
+				Description:   "PEM-encoded content of Docker host CA certificate",
+			},
+			"cert_material": &schema.Schema{
+				Type:          schema.TypeString,
+				Optional:      true,
+				DefaultFunc:   schema.EnvDefaultFunc("DOCKER_CERT_MATERIAL", ""),
+				ConflictsWith: []string{"cert_path"},
+				Description:   "PEM-encoded content of Docker client certificate",
+			},
+			"key_material": &schema.Schema{
+				Type:          schema.TypeString,
+				Optional:      true,
+				DefaultFunc:   schema.EnvDefaultFunc("DOCKER_KEY_MATERIAL", ""),
+				ConflictsWith: []string{"cert_path"},
+				Description:   "PEM-encoded content of Docker client private key",
+			},
+
 			"cert_path": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:        schema.TypeString,
 				Optional:    true,
@@ -43,6 +65,9 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 func providerConfigure(d *schema.ResourceData) (interface{}, error) {
 	config := Config{
 		Host:     d.Get("host").(string),
+		Ca:       d.Get("ca_material").(string),
+		Cert:     d.Get("cert_material").(string),
+		Key:      d.Get("key_material").(string),
 		CertPath: d.Get("cert_path").(string),
 	}
 
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/docker/index.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/docker/index.html.markdown
index 1b92cb1b7..f16a04f10 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/docker/index.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/docker/index.html.markdown
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ The following arguments are supported:
   for connecting to the Docker host via TLS. If this is blank, the
   `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` will also be checked.
 
+* `ca_material`, `cert_material`, `key_material`, - (Optional) Content of `ca.pem`, `cert.pem`, and `key.pem` files
+  for TLS authentication. Cannot be used together with `cert_path`.
+
 ~> **NOTE on Certificates and `docker-machine`:**  As per [Docker Remote API
 documentation](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/api/docker_remote_api/),
 in any docker-machine environment, the Docker daemon uses an encrypted TCP