Leva inom sig själv. Möt Niklas från Täby och Adam från Kanada. Båda berättar om att ha Aspergers syndrom, en form av autism. Adam är dessutom huvudpersonen i en prisbelönt film om hur en familj hanterar utmaningen att ha en son med Aspergers syndrom.

Om filmen, som också är med i programmet:

"Am I retarded? That's how kids make me feel. I don't like having Asperger's. I don't like being considered different."

But Adam has Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism that compromises his ability to socialize with other kids. He blurts out inappropriate comments. He gets angry easily. And he sometimes gets violent.

Adam's behaviour -- and the way it affects his family and his classmates -- is illustrated in The Boy Inside, a documentary by his mother, Marianne Kaplan, that airs Tuesday night at 10 p.m. on CBC Newsworld.

The film takes a difficult look at not only Adam and his behaviour, but at his parents' quest for help for their son. Asperger's is a neurological disorder that is increasingly diagnosed among children, but is still far from being understood by the general public, which tends to see an outspoken, rude child rather than a child with a disorder.

Kaplan says she decided to turn the camera on herself and her family because, despite the difficulties of the project, she wanted to shed some honest light on a disorder that is often misunderstood.

The film sold out two screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and Kaplan says she's been getting incredibly positive feedback from people who have seen the documentary.

"I've had people say to me, 'I had no idea how hard it was,'" she said.

"It's exciting to be a part of that and to feel that one's particular personal story can touch so many people."

Many people first heard of Asperger's a couple of years ago when Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime became a best-selling phenomenon. The novel was told from the perspective of a 15-year-old boy with Asperger's.

But as Kaplan notes, no two kids have the same symptoms of Asperger's. In one of her film's most touching scenes, Adam matter-of-factly questions a boy he meets at an Asperger's conference about his levels of sociability.

He asks whether the other boy can make friends and keep friends, something Adam has found difficult.

"My son was never invited to anyone's house when he was in school, barely ever. And barely ever invited to birthday parties," Kaplan says.

"If my son would've had a few friends during those early years, I think it would be a completely different situation now. He has such a chip on his shoulder. He's almost paranoid. He doesn't even know when kids are talking about him or when kids aren't talking about him."

The film also shows how difficult the disorder has made life for Kaplan and her husband -- who find themselves at one point in the film realizing they talk about nothing other than their son -- and on Adam's older sister, who tells her mother that life would be easier for her if she didn't have to attend the same school as her brother.

Kaplan said B.C.'s Ministry of Children and Family Development has expressed interest in showing the film in the province's public schools and is funding a website to connect parents of kids with Asperger's to one another.

"It's such a private experience, often an isolating experience," Kaplan said. "Some behaviours are so odd they're almost embarrassing to talk about."