MAIZE, Kansas, March 9, 2007 – It is a variety show that features a variety of characters, a conscious act by a woman who experienced that sometimes friendship can be forged simply be making it happen.

"My mother knew a teacher that had a little boy with Down's syndrome, and she could never find babysitters because everybody was really uncomfortable to babysit," Val Wall, Circle of Friends founder, said. So she made me babysit that boy, and I know looking back now, that was a real stepping stone for me doing what I believe I'm supposed to do."

As a special-ed teacher at Maize High, Val Wall started the Circle of Friends club three years ago.

"I can’t tell you how many times I've sat in meetings where parents have said, 'My kids don't really like coming to school. They just don't feel like they have any friends," Wall said.

Now working for the Arc, who helps developmentally disabled live fuller lives, she's putting these clubs in place at high schools across the area.

"My goal is to make people more comfortable with people with disabilities," Wall said.

And it worked beautifully for Carter and Cameron, both seniors at Maize High.

"I've always known him, but until friendship club started, we weren't really close, and after that's when we had the connection with the b-bop," Cameron Bedell, Maize High senior, said.

"He and I we talk a lot," Carter Hultman, Maize High senior, said. "He's my b-bop. He's the guy that does the bop when I do the rap thing."

In teen speak, that means he can take what Carter does best, and make it a duet that the rest of the school will probably join in on.

"I play basketball here and my sophomore year I was like the only athlete in club, and now that I'm a senior, I don't know a single basketball player that's not in the club," Cameron said.

It’s a circle of friends that's growing and now showcasing, not only the talent within, but the friendships that have been formed along the way.

"Kids like this don't often get to be in a high school musical or stand up on the stage and sing or dance around in front of people," Shaun-Michael Morse, director "Building the Circle," said. "It's a great opportunity to put them on equal footing with their peers."