As a boy, Josh Freed was scolded by teachers for his constant mess. They warned he wouldn't succeed in life unless he changed.

Once in the workforce, Freed was hassled by bosses and co-workers who refused to accept the trail of paper that always followed closely behind him.

But this award-winning journalist, author, filmmaker and self-confessed mess-expert's day has come.

"My Messy Life," an original documentary directed by and starring Freed himself, takes a light-hearted look at clutter in a symbolic act of defiance against what Freed calls the "tyranny of the tidy."

In the film, Freed turns the cameras on his home office, which he aptly calls his "messterpiece."

Aside from his chair, not a single surface is visible in Freed's office. Notes plaster walls, bins cover the floor and stacks of paper, files and books consume the desk.

"I can't work in ultra neat spaces," Freed told CTV.ca. "My brain goes static."

But it wasn't easy for Freed to come out of the closet with his mess.

In 2005, Freed was invited to speak at IdeaCity, a conference in Toronto designed to showcase the city's most prolific minds. During the conference, Freed took a leap of faith and showed the crowd of movers and shakers his chaotic office, explaining how it was the key to his success.

Freed soon learned he wasn't alone. Many of the artists, politicians and academics he met shared his dirty little secret.

The hour-long documentary features the unkempt quarters of other notable figures such as Canada's former justice minister Irwin Cotler, Internet guru Esther Dyson, and television mainstay Joe Franklin.

Meeting other self-confessed slobs led Freed to develop his own version of the chaos theory -- whereby messes promote creative thinking.

Rummaging through the piles is like going on an archeological dig, Freed says in the film.

"I excavate ideas."

Freed's job as a weekly columnist for the Montreal Gazette sees him clip and collect dozens of tidbits of information each day.

"If you put them away in a file they are dead. But if you keep them on a desk they are alive," he told CTV.ca.

"A lot of people would benefit from messing around with their ideas," Freed said. But, he admitted, he wouldn't want his airline pilot or brain surgeon to be unorganized.

In "My Messy Life" Freed sets out to find the fine, though perhaps hidden, line between disorder and dysfunction.

Ultimately he discovers the line is extremely personal, one that is different for every individual.

"If it makes you sad, if you can't work in your mess, if you feel your life is overwhelming, then you are too messy," Freed said.

"But if you feel good in your mess, if you feel happy in your mess, and it makes you feel comfortable and creative, then it is good."

Freed says most people don't realize how evangelical neatniks can be. He points to a cacophony of TV shows, magazines and retailers devoted solely to converting the disorderly with their "weapons of mess destruction."

Ironically, Freed points out, most people prefer New York City to Zurich because the Big Apple is chaotic and Switzerland's largest city is too tidy.

"Messy is more fun. It has personality," Freed said.

But even Freed draws the line somewhere. You won't find food in his office; in fact, it's strictly prohibited.

"You can't bring a cup of coffee or a peanut in past a certain area because I don't want something to disappear in there and show up three years later," Freed said.

Since Freed's version of the Palm Pilot is well, the palm of his hand -- he writes notes to himself there with an old-fashioned pen -- he seeks organizational help before embarking on big projects.

During the making of "My Messy Life" Freed's producers kept the details in check so he could focus on creating.

"I make sure I have someone who doesn't have as tangential mind as mine as backup," Freed admitted.

Freed considers himself a leader to the millions of underrepresented messy people.

"It's easier to be neat, because everyone beats up on the messy," Freed said.

"My Messy Life" airs Sat. May 17 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.