PALM SPRINGS - Mothers of filmmakers are usually in the background, proudly watching the creations of sons and daughters.

At Friday night's world premiere of "Music Within" at the 18th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, two of them met.

Tani Austin, of Rancho Mirage and Eden Prairie, Minn., was there to support her son, Steven Sawalich, in his first feature-length movie, "Music Within." The poignant and funny film carries a significant message about disabilities and is a personal pick of the festival's Director of Programming Carl Spence.

It will screen again at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Regal Palm Springs.

In the audience for the premiere were Jamee and John Hardwicke of Sunriver, Ore. Jamee chatted briefly with Austin -- mother to mother. The Hardwicke's daughter, Catherine is director of "The Nativity Story," "Lords of Dogtown" and "Thirteen."

The Harwickes have been coming to the Palm Springs festival for about eight years to catch foreign and art films not available where they live.

"We tell all of our friends about it," Jamee Hardwicke said. "We love this."

Austin said her younger son, Steven, 30, always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker and worked hard for it. Still, her breath was taken away by "Music Within."

"I am absolutely stunned at the content. It's charming, funny and has meaning," she said, quickly adding that no one really is interested in what a mother has to say.

But others agreed. The packed audience burst into applause and stayed for the question and answer session after the screening.

The film is based on a true story about Richard Pimentel, who survived early traumas to become a noted public speaker. He created a landmark program, "Tilting at Windmills," which instructs agencies and companies on hiring and training the disabled.

The screenplay is not only true to his life, it is filled with the sharp, humorous dialogue that has made him so successful in championing the cause of the disabled. Voiceover by Ron Livingston, who played Pimentel, includes such lines as "I was passed around like an unwanted Christmas fruitcake," describing a childhood with a mentally ill mother. Or his end of a phone conversation after he started a company to find work for the disabled: "How can a dwarf be a file clerk? She specializes in 'L' through 'Z.'"

After the screening, Sawalich was joined by Pimentel and a dozen cast and crew members. The two leads, Livingston ("Band of Brothers") and Michael Sheen ("Blood Diamond," "The Queen"), were unable to come because of other commitments. But there in support were actors Hector Elizondo ("Love in the Time of Cholera," "Chicago Hope"), Yul Vazquez ("War of the Worlds," "The Sopranos") and Clint Howard.

Howard ("Austin Powers," "Little Nicky," "That Thing You Do," "Apollo 13") said he accepted the small role of a clerk who gives Livingston's character a hard time because he liked what he saw in the script and in Sawalich.

"My philosophy is I like to work on projects like this where there is a nobility about it," he said. "Everybody should see this movie."

He praised the performances of Livingston and Sheen, who does a pitch-perfect portrayal of Art Honeyman, a friend of Pimentel's who has cerebral palsy and is severely limited physically and in speech, but has a keen wit.

A Vietnam vet injured in that war, Pimentel said he hopes the awareness the film raises about the plight of disabled people will spill over into his work with domestic violence victims and disabled veterans of the Iraq war.

Pimentel, whose father's death and mother's indifference is laid bare in the film, said he had some trepidation about strangers viewing his most intimate experiences and emotions. But he was gratified with the integrity of the piece and the true-to-life performances, he said.

He particularly likes the scene where he and Honeyman, who is in a wheelchair making spastic movements and drooling, get arrested for trying to eat at a pancake house. They were told Art's disability was ugly and disturbing.

"The story that needs to be told is not my story. It's of my time, of a movement I was caught up in," he said. "I wanted the movie not to focus on the adventures of Richard but the fascinating people I knew."

Sawalich said he had heard Pimentel speak years ago and recognized the film potential.

"The story so captivated me, and I wanted to get the word out there," he said.

Once he had a solid script, he secured strong actors. He chose to hire a seasoned actor, not a disabled person, for the role of Honeyman.

"Michael is a brilliant actor and I was lucky enough to get him," Sawalich said.

Sheen spent time with people with cerebral palsy, then went out on the streets in character to test himself.

"He went out on the town as Art to see what it was like and how people react," Sawalich said. "But for Michael, the cerebral palsy was this small part of who Art was, and that's what makes it so brilliant."