Khashyar Darvich went to Tibet to film a documentary about 40 of the world's top thinkers joining the Dalai Lama to devise a plan for changing the direction of the world.

Darvich came away with a film that follows a metamorphosis from outer to inner vision and from a plan to change everyone else to a plan to change oneself.

Darvich's story of that metamorphosis will be screened this weekend in the Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival.

Contentiousness began even before the conference opened, as the 40 people traveled from an Indian airport to the Dalai Lama's home. By the time they began discussing the grand scheme, they were virtually at each other's throats and it looked as though the conference would disintegrate.

"At first, we expected great thinkers would solve the world's problems," Darvich said. "Halfway through, we realized the story was about their inner journeys."

What happened when the Dalai Lama arrived to start the conference became the story Darvich filmed, even became its title, "Dalai Lama Renaissance."

His presence, his respect for everyone and everything around him, gradually brought an end to the confrontations, Darvich said.

"He sort of inspires others," Darvich said.

The discussion also turned from a grand design to an inner design.

"In the film, we see great personal change," Darvich said.

That change was carried back into the world from which the participants came and that change will spread like ripples from their presence from now on, Darvich said.

"The seed will keep growing. It has reached millions of people," he said.

Darvich said he did not come to the project from a Buddhist perspective.

"I grew up in Ohio, in the heart of the Bible Belt," he said.

He has, however, come to respect the Dalai Lama.

"He walks the talk," he said. "He is certainly a man who works for peace."

Though directing the film was a satisfying experience, nothing matched the audience reaction the first time it was shown, Darvich said.

"Audience members said they cried. They felt affected. That was worth the entire experience for me," he said.

Narrating the document is Harrison Ford, who needed very little persuading to take on the unpaid gig, Darvich said.

Ford was at the top of a short list of people Darvich and his collaborators thought would do a good job, so he contacted Ford's agent, who forwarded a copy of the script to the actor, who accepted almost immediately.

Darvich said he asked Ford to be prepared to read each line twice, once each in two styles.

Instead, he read each line as many times as it took to get the effect Darvich sought, as many as 10 times in some cases.

"He never complained," Darvich said.

Darvich will be at the Saturday screening of his film and said he will remain after the showing to answer questions if audience members want him to.