[mystic music] - [Ashley] 18-year-old Rinzin Jurmey decided to leave his rural community in Bhutan to become a monk when he was 11 years old.

He is content studying Buddhist traditions.

[monks chanting] But he also wants to understand how some of his peers spend their time.

Tourism and technology have had a major impact on the small nation of Bhutan.

- Today global stories of material success are rapidly replacing Bhutanese stories of contentment.

- [Ashley] With guidance from filmmaker Kat Papadimitriou, Rinzin explores how he and his country are striving to preserve Bhutan's culture while embracing globalization.

[bright music] Major funding for this program is provided by.

Additional funding by.

[dramatic music] [chickens clucking] [water falling] [pipes music] [prayer flags rustling] [speaking in foreign language] [wind blowing] [long horns moaning] [door creaking] [mystical music] [speaking in foreign language] [monks singing] [speaking in foreign language] [monks chanting] [drum music] [speaking in foreign language] - Bhutan being a small kingdom of less than a million people, it's is important that we understand where we are and what we're doing and how we move on with life in the 21st century.

Buddhism keeps talking about non-duality and we cannot have the good without the bad.

We cannot have tradition without modernity because if you're not progressing, then how do you know what's our tradition?

And the other way around.

The question we should be asking ourselves is, "How can we be modern and yet be confident about ourselves as Bhutanese?"

[speaking in foreign language] - It's not black and white, it's how we find a balance that's the challenge.

[speaking in foreign language] [mystical music] [woman speaking remotely on television] [speaking in foreign language] [motor revving] [motor roaring] - Today's 20-year-olds are the first generation of Bhutanese that grew up with the modern media.

Children are consumed by non-stop entertainment and parents are vying for their attention.

Today, global stories of material success rapidly replacing Bhutanese stories of contentment.

Basically telling Bhutanese that, you know, confidence comes from owning material things.

[man announcing on television] That is the challenge are meeting and facing and confronting every day in Bhutan.

♪ Started off as a loser ♪ ♪ And no one liked me before ♪ ♪ They considered me as a joke ♪ ♪ They said get bullets in four ♪ ♪ Just to go back home ♪ ♪ I don't wanna go to school ♪ ♪ The bullying me, Mom ♪ ♪ To them I'm not cool ♪ ♪ I wanna be cool to fit in with them too ♪ ♪ Lo, [indistinct] downgrade ♪ ♪ 'Case an empty vessel makes more noise ♪ [speaking in foreign language] - After the crew was formed, my life changed completely.

We've been dancing for almost like six years and I learned dancing through watching dance tutorials on YouTube and other social media.

[speaking in foreign language] The way we dress up, they think that we are gangster, and they don't believe in us.

They think that trash.

- Our parents do not support us for what we do because in Bhutan, we lack the opportunity for dancing.

[upbeat music] But in reality, dancing saved us.

In that way, it was the opportunity.

- I could share my feelings.

I could share my pain.

I could share my happiness to my crew members.

I could also like help them, guide them by listening to their stories.

It makes me strong to believe that we can change the dancing scene in Bhutan so that future dancing can compete on an international level.

[speaking in foreign language] - This kingdom is really blessed, but it's also the last independent Vajrayana Buddhist country.

What would the world lose, you know, if our culture disappeared?

It's the fact that it would lose a very important aspect of global humanity.

[bells dinging] [speaking in foreign language] [dramatic music] There are very, very few quiet places left on earth.

[water bubbling] [serene music] And very, very few places where the average person still generally seek enlightenment and contentment rather than just, you know, consumption and feel good for myself.

[brooms brushing] You know, we're all special, but the truth is the special things in Bhutan are so simple, right?

It's like just the quiet walk.

[bells music] [monks talking] So we are at the precipice.

It all depends on which path we take.

- In the constitution, it imposes as a duty for every citizen to ensure that the culture is preserved and promoted.

So in all our education system, in our schools, culture is a strong component of the learning that takes place.

[serene music] We have the Buddhist ritual values infused into many, many school programs, including the many practices that the school conducts every day.

[teaching speaking in background] In the class, as the students begin their lesson, they start off by what we call the mindfulness meditation practice.

[bells dinging] Empowering your mind to receive the learning.

We have curriculum where students are immersed to learn about the spiritual values in the kind of personality, spiritual personalities that they study in their textbooks, so it's very much there in our education system.

[children yelling in background] This is a time where we need to teach our children that yes, this world, beautiful, wide world, it's outside, but that anchor is our heritage, our culture, our tradition.

[children singing] Because otherwise the risk is that our children would grow up losing this connection to the roots and losing this anchor to the roots and therefore losing the identity of the individual and as a society as well.

[children singing] Culture is extremely important part of our country.

And in fact, our constitution lays down that the state must be responsible, actively responsible to promote and preserve culture.

[serene music] - Frankly, I cannot stress enough the importance of telling our own stories.

Whether it's folklore, music, dance, even just simple stories about Bhutan, that we have young people who tell stories, who make good films.

Our dance must evolve with a deep understanding of how our traditional dance started.

And then evolve because all these represent the essence of our own culture and our identity.

[monks singing] - We are a tiny country, we've got a tiny voice, but we would like to believe that we make the world beautiful.

[people chatting in background] [bright music] [speaking in foreign language] This is a beautiful country we have.

We have a beautiful culture and we contribute to the diversity of the world and contribute in making this planet of ours a happier place to live.

If you lose the culture of Bhutan, perhaps that much happiness in the world would be deprived of, taken away.

[speaking in foreign language] - So contemporary culture, modernity, needs to be based on actually an understanding of our own essence.

That's why it's so important for young storytellers like you, Rinzin, to create modern Bhutanese content and to inspire the new generation to remember their roots.

[speaking in foreign language] [monks cheering] [monks applauding] [bright music] - [Ashley] Major funding for this program is provided by.

Additional funding by.

For more Films By Kids, visit Thirteen.org/FilmsByKids.