The children of 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement in Perry County received a special treat Thursday as actress Drew Barrymore stopped in for a visit.

Barrymore came to Selma filming a documentary about voting, focused on youth.

She spent the better part of the afternoon at the National Voting Rights Museum before visiting with the future leaders.

“That publicity is invaluable,” the museum’s Joanne Bland said. “We’re also glad that a conscious young woman got to see what we do and what the children do.”

Barrymore requested that her meeting with the kids be private. But afterward she appeared with the children for a group photo.

They obviously took to the actress quickly.

“They were really relaxed, I couldn’t believe it. I guess because she was so laid back,” Bland said.

Celeste Faison was impressed.

“It was cool, I mean she was really down to earth,” Faison said. “She didn’t present herself as a movie star, she just presented herself as someone who cared about the community.”

The crew had hoped not to be noticed while they were in town, but word of their arrival spread.

“She asked that it be very low key,” Bland added.

State Senator Hank Sanders drove over from Montgomery to meet Barrymore and speak to the children as well.

Sanders said it was important for the students to be inspired by successful people.

“When you grow up poor, when you grow up black, it becomes far more important to see people who have succeeded because that has impact on you,” Sanders said. “I became a lawyer not because I met Thurgood Marshall, but because I read about him.

Had I seen him, I probably would have been a lawyer much earlier and a much better lawyer.

It’s just so important to see people that have overcome odds.”

The 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement is designed to help young children grow up to become leaders.

Bland said the program stresses an exchange of ideas.

“We don’t lecture them, they feel they can express themselves,” Bland said.

The program is filled with children and young adults and runs the gamut from 9 to 26 years old.

According to Bland, Barrymore explained to the group her motivation for the documentary and spoke from the heart.

“It was a very emotional time,” Bland said. “She said this was the first place she had gone and something tangible came out of it.

Selma, Alabama was the only place she felt at home and felt she talked to real people.”

The documentary, which will focus on voting and youth, is scheduled to appear before the November election.

The issue is close to Sanders’ heart.

After leaving the meeting, he spoke about the pervasiveness of government in our lives and how it’s crucial for young people to get involved.

“Even when you die you’ve got to have a death certificate,” Sanders said. “Even religion (is affected)… Every aspect of your life is impacted and those are the kinds of things we talked about.

See what that does is truly educate a person on why they vote.”

Barrymore and her crew spent much of the early afternoon filming in the Voting Rights Museum as Bland and Sam Walker gave them a guided tour.

“This will bring awareness to us,” Bland said.