Forest Whitaker Talks About Helping Child Soldiers in Africa and His Documentary 'A Place of Peace' (VIDEO)

In 2007, Forest Whitaker played Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 'The Last King of Scotland.' It was an important film for Whitaker -- he won an Oscar for his performance. While he was filming, he got a firsthand look at the child soldiers fighting Uganda's civil war. Whitaker got involved in their cause through friend on 'Last King' who ran an orphanage for child soldiers. He spoke about his experience Thursday on 'The Early Show' (weekdays, 7AM on CBS).

"I knew about the historical issues around the war with the LRA and stuff, the Lord's Resistance Army," Whitaker said. "But this was the first time that I had real deep contact where I spent real time with the children soldiers and raised money for them and helped them to build their dormitories and their schools."

Whitaker was recently named a goodwill ambassador by UNESCO for his work with child soldiers in Uganda and has made a documentary on the subject called "A Place of Peace."