Brie Larson Says She’s a ‘Better Human’ After Filming New Disney+ Series ‘Growing Up’

Brie Larson’s new docuseries tells the coming of age stories of 10 young people who represent a wide range of lived experiences

Brie Larson is opening up about the lasting impact of her latest project.

The Captain Marvel actress, 32, spoke to PEOPLE Wednesday at the premiere of her Disney+ show, Growing Up, which premieres on Sept. 8.

Larson, who serves as executive producer for the non-scripted series, said that being able to tell the stories of ten young people featured on the project had deeply affected her as a person.

“I’m not the same,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m a better person. I’m a better partner. I’m a better human after meeting all of these incredible, incredible heroes.

“They are able to articulate and talk about things that I don’t know if, at their age, I would’ve had the courage to be able to talk about, and they’re doing an incredible service to us,” she continued.

Larson said the show can speak particularly to adults who have “forgotten certain things or maybe suppressing certain things that need to be said.”

“I’ve cried a lot through this process and it’s not just sad tears. It’s just happy tears and tears of gratitude,” Larson said. “And I feel just eternally grateful.”

According to a description of the show on Disney+, Growing Up is “an innovative hybrid docuseries that explores the challenges, triumphs and complexities of adolescence through ten compelling coming of age stories.”

“The series uses narrative, experimental, and documentary filmmaking to follow one casted individual, ages 18-22, as they tell their story,” it continues. “They represent a wide range of lived experiences, giving audiences emotionally powerful narratives that offer an engaging look at teenage-hood and the diverse social, familial, and internal obstacles young people face on their path to self-discovery and acceptance.”

Each 23-minute episode features the story of one of the 10 young people and brought together a group of directors including Yara Shahidi and Larson herself.

The actor told PEOPLE that through working on the series she had learned to talk about difficult feelings in her own process of growing up, adding that she even had an epiphany about letting go of a personal feeling of shame and reframing her own experiences.

“Well, it’s an ongoing process. It doesn’t mean that I’m free of shame. I catch myself in it all the time, but I feel like through this process I’ve learned that it’s okay to talk about it, and that if I’m feeling stressed or if I’m feeling anxiety about it’s okay to reach out to a safe person in a safe space and say, ‘This is what I’m feeling inside. Is it okay?,’” she said.

[via]