I'VE never made a recommendation to watch telly in this column before.

Telly-schmelly.

Go talk to your kids or partner instead.

But on Thursday, June 11 (when the kids are in bed) tune in to ABC1 and watch Kids' Business.

It's set in a Victorian country primary school, Bendigo to be precise, home to the creators of a schools-based program called Solving the Jigsaw.

There, documentary-film makers Cath South and Stewart Carter captured on film what happens when kids feel free and safe to really talk about what's affecting them.

What's really striking about this is that they talk honestly and openly with their classmates.

And their classmates don't scorn or mock them for revealing their most vulnerable and sensitive selves, but encourage and support them.

The couple filmed in the school each week for a year, initially to make an educational video for Solving the Jigsaw, a program that aims to change our culture of bullying and violence into one that honours children's wellbeing.

What Cath and Stewart witnessed inspired them to make the documentary.

As part of STJ, the kids gather in a room together each week with a trained facilitator and are invited to talk about the things they're thinking about - things that they're joyous about, things they worry about.

The sessions are confidential and the kids commit to a few basic rules: what's said in the circle stays there.

This documentary captures them revealing pretty rugged stuff: violence and threatened violence at home, grief, joy, loss, happiness.

They talk about how they really feel when their parents fight and yell at them or when their parents don't listen, or when they're left out of a group.

When they reveal their true feelings, the other kids are asked how they would feel in that situation and what they might do to change it.

Cath and Stewart sought the permission of the children's parents to show the documentary. To their great credit, the parents agreed.

The documentary shows the parents astounded at discovering how their behaviour affects their children.

Solving the Jigsaw, established in 1997, is now in about 140 Australian primary and secondary schools.

Tongala Primary School introduced it three years ago.

"It makes it socially unacceptable to tolerate bullying in a public forum," says the principal, Wayne Campbell.

He says the children can now identify and name bullying and ask for it to stop.

The school has run out of funding to offer STJ to more than the grade 5 and 6 kids this year.

It's not good timing. Studies show that families under financial pressure, as drought-stricken areas like Tongala are, face increased risk.

Wedderburn P-12 College, which has 234 students, introduced STJ eight years ago.

"Emotionally blocked, educationally locked," says assistant principal Margaret-Anne Wright.

"If kids have lots of things weighing them down, it's really hard for them to focus on learning," Margaret-Anne explains.

"Our school is about providing a culture where kids feel included and safe and listened to and where they feel they are able to voice their thoughts with confidence.

"It makes the kids more aware of their rights and responsibilities to help other kids feel safe."

What? Kids having responsibilities to help others feel safe to speak their minds?

Geez, that's something us adults could do with a few lessons in, don't you think?

Happy watching.

• Solving the Jigsaw co-creator Carla Meurs is a friend of this columnist. Kids' Business goes to air at 9.25pm on June 11.