Film highlights program for troubled youth

Mark Steward converses with director and producer Victoria Mills on Tuesday prior to the start of an advanced screening of the documentary "Like Any Other Kid" at Capitol City Cinema. Steward is a Jefferson City native and a founder and director of Missouri Youth Service Institute.
Mark Steward converses with director and producer Victoria Mills on Tuesday prior to the start of an advanced screening of the documentary "Like Any Other Kid" at Capitol City Cinema. Steward is a Jefferson City native and a founder and director of Missouri Youth Service Institute.

The work of a local program to help troubled youth will be featured in a film shown this week in Jefferson City.

"Like Any Other Kid" will play at 6 p.m. Thursday at Capitol City Cinema, 126 E. High St.

The film looks at children in juvenile justice systems in New York, Louisiana and California. These states are among many that have reached out to Jefferson City resident Mark Steward, who has run the not-for-profit Missouri Youth Service Institute for the past 12 years.

"We started the program after I left the job of director for the Missouri juvenile system, where I'd been for 17 years," Steward said. "While at the state, we were able to develop a system that went from basically kid prisons to therapeutic places that rehabilitate kids."

Once he left the department, Steward said, he continued to get calls from other states asking for help, so he and wife Alice started the institute.

"The film is shot by a documentary producer who approached the folks using our program in New York and began shooting there and then went on to Louisiana and California," he said. "They went into homes and watched the kids and how they interacted with staff and their families. It took three years to complete the whole process."

Steward said the film will show how many of these children went from being in gangs to making a total change in their lives.

"They're showing it here because we started this approach here and we've shown it works here," he said. "It shows the kids in many raw settings, so you really get the picture of where they're coming from."

Steward said they just signed a contract to do work in Colorado and more work is coming in the future.

"It's just very rewarding to see the kids make it," he said.

To learn more about the film, visit likeanyotherkid.com.