It's an untitled, home-grown movie – at this moment a no budget movie, with a cast of stars in their own right and supported by an international slew of bit-players, psychologists, probation officers and police.

But it's a movie with an important, heartfelt plot that will help understand, change and shape young challenged lives.

'The whole world stands to benefit from this movie,” says Krista Davis, founder of Live for More, the Tauranga charitable trust using surf boards and waves to reach troubled young men and empower them to turn their lives around.

'The more the world realises and appreciates the amazing free tool that is surf therapy, the better,” says Krista. It's helping people with depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol problems, PTSD and autism. Surf therapy is being used because some things modern medicine can't treat.

But Live for More needs a hand up. What started out as a short, five-minute movie about the good works of Living for More morphed into a full-length documentary of cinema quality – simply because the troubled young men telling their stories were so compelling.

'Stories of true transformation, changes from a life of absolute brokenness and despair and hopelessness to radiant smiles and some kid saying: ‘I can actually control my destiny, I don't have to keep walking the same path to ruination because it's the only one I have been shown, I can stay out of jail, I can stay out of the justice system, I can earn a legit' income, I don't have to wear a gang patch'.”

The director suddenly realised there was a much bigger story to be shared. They needed $20,000 to get the job done, to get the movie out there and the message shared. Then a major sponsor Showerdome gave them $5,000 so they just need just $15,000. 'The director Brad Hook started shooting material 18 months ago. Videography is his passion but not his job so we need to pay some professional to get the scripting, voice overs, music, editing - all the post production done.”

And Live for More needs the community support because it relies totally on donations and grants. There is no government funding. 'We don't have specific funds for the doco' – our limited funds we have are the pay for employees and to ensure we can run the surf programs and buy surf equipment. So we need support to finish the movie.”

The plan is to finish the movie early September so it can be premiered and shown to an international surf therapy conference in California in November. 'It will also be shown around New Zealand,” says Krista. 'People will be saying this is not just surfing, it is so much more, surfing is medicine.”

To help with the creation of an important movie go to: www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/tai-watea-waves-of-freedom-surf-therapy