"MICHEL MARTIN, host:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.

In just a few minutes, Maya Angelou joins us to tell us why she decided now is the time to donate much of her literary treasure trove to Harlem Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. That conversation is just a few minutes.

But first, we want to tell you about a new film that explores a subject that many have grappled with: family secrets. To the outside world, the Billings(ph) family was a picture perfect example of how a lot of love and a little sacrifice could overcome the boundaries of race and poverty. The family included five white children - one of them adopted - and five adopted Native American ones, including four children adopted from the same Crow Indian family. But then two of the Crow Indian boys ran away and were killed in a tragic accident.

Thirty years later, the filmmaker, Chris Billing, tried to find out the truth about why they ran away. And that led him to a shocking discovery. He tells the story in a new film, "Lost Sparrow." It premieres tonight as part of the PBS series, Independent Lens. And Chris Billing joins us now to tell us more about it. Welcome, thanks so much for joining us.

Mr. CHRIS BILLING (Filmmaker, "Lost Sparrow"): It's a pleasure to be here.

MARTIN: What is a lost sparrow?

Mr. BILLING: It's the Crow Indian term - and my four siblings were adopted from the Crow tribe just out of Billings, Montana. And it's a Crow Indian term for children who are taken away from the reservation out of the tribe, as happened with my siblings. We adopted them all the way from Montana to the state of New Jersey."

Get the Story:
Investigating Indian Brothers' Fate In 'Lost Sparrow' (NPR 11/16)