AUSTIN, Texas -- Every summer hundreds of incoming high school seniors gather in Austin for Boys State. It's been happening every summer since 1940.

Texas teens come together to create their own state government from the ground up in one week.

In the new documentary "Boys State,” directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine followed attendees at the event in 2018. 

Moss and McBaine say they first came up with the idea after reading an article about it in the Washington Post.

“What an interesting space they created to bring young people who have very different politics and let them try to talk to each other,” Moss told Capital Tonight.

The film focuses on four Texas teens and their journey through the process. The directors say they spent several months trying to narrow down the four they chose to highlight.

“We spent about three months crisscrossing Texas,” said McBaine. “I think though, when we finally did find our guys, after a lot of searching, there was a moment of immediate recognition. It was like ‘oh you.’ You know? We need this diverse group. People from this side of the political spectrum and this side and different backgrounds.”

The directors say they did expect to witness chaos and hormones given it was one thousand teenage boys together. But they also discovered some real common ground.

“As we stayed longer and got to know the boys, we could really see below the surface,” Moss said “There was a sensitivity, a depth to these boys we weren’t willing to give them credit for initially and you saw that in their vulnerability. We saw crying and really an expression of emotion that was wholly surprising to us and not just Lord of the Flies, but really something much more serious and relevant to the conversation today about our politics and how young people are kind of wrestling with these ideas and these responsibilities.”

“Boys State” won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. It's available now on Apple TV+.