Teen A Hero To The Homeless

(CBS)  The Girl Scouts' highest honor is the Gold Award.

The Early Show's American Hero on Tuesday is a young woman who sought to obtain her Gold Award by making a film documenting some of the people in her community. What Francesca Karle never imagined, reports Thalia Assuras, was just how big an impact her little movie would make.

The film's premiere had all the fanfare of a blockbuster. But it was happening far from Hollywood, in Huntington, W.Va.

You wouldn't

recognize the movie's stars

. They're usually nameless, seldom noticed, often ignored.

And the director? Karle, 17, whose grainy, sometimes shaky film features many of the area's homeless. It was her first time as a director, and is earning rave reviews from her community.

"I couldn't believe it," Karle says. "They were saying my name like it was the Grammys or something. It felt really good."

Assuras says it all started on the banks of the Ohio River, where Karle interviewed most of the people in her documentary. After all, that's where they live.

Called "On The River's Edge," the film delves into the concealed camps and hidden lives of the normally reticent-to-talk homeless.

"It's hard," one homeless man says. "I mean, really hard when you get rained on. Everything's cold, wet, soaked, and dirty (and leaves you) looking like a tramp."

From each individual comes a different perspective.

"I'm six months pregnant," one homeless woman says. "I'm trying to get on my feet."

No situation is the same.

A man notes, "It ain't the world's fault, or the government, or nobody around me. It's because that's what I choose to do."

What did Karle want to accomplish with this film?

"I wanted to break stereotypes that all homeless people are alcoholics," she says. "And just show that it can happen to anybody. Like in my film. It showed that even a natural disaster could cause homelessness."

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »