Songwriter Diane Warren’s Childhood Guitar Teacher Told Her Dad That ‘She Has No Future in Music’ (Exclusive)

A 15-time Academy Award nominee with songs that have sold over 125 million records, Diane Warren embarked on a journey to success that started as a dream few believed would come true.

In the upcoming intimate documentary Diane Warren: Relentless, premiering in theaters on Jan. 10 and available for streaming on MasterClass starting Jan. 23, the 68-year-old songwriter offers a behind-the-scenes look at her upbringing and creative process. 

“My mom was always like, ‘You could be sitting on the corner with a guitar and a cup,’” Warren says in the film’s trailer, shared exclusively with PEOPLE. "‘You can’t make a living at it.’”

Despite discouragement from her mother and others in her life — including her childhood guitar teacher, who told her father, “She has no future in music” — Warren persisted, honing her craft and eventually becoming a go-to songwriter for the stars. “One of my favorite things to do is say, ‘F--- you I’ll prove you wrong’," she says in the trailer.

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Warren has written some of the biggest songs for the world’s greatest performers — including "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" for Aerosmith, "If I Could Turn Back Time" for Cher and "Because You Loved Me" for Céline Dion. But she says there’s no secret formula to her songwriting: “I don’t analyze what I do. I just go to work and I work.”

Several of the many artists she’s collaborated with appear in the documentary, reflecting on Warren’s impact. “I’ve met a lot of people, but honey, ain’t never met nobody like Diane Warren,” Jennifer Hudson says in the trailer. “She’s crazy, oh my god,” Cher adds with a laugh. “But she writes great songs.”

The documentary also touches on Warren’s early diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, which played a role in her creative process. “Lots of people don’t quite understand people on the spectrum. It’s part of the genius,” a voiceover in the trailer says, with another adding, “She relived her pain and shared it with the world.”

Despite the challenges she faced growing up — “As a child, she knew nothing except rejection,” a voiceover states — Warren is grateful for the life she’s lived. “I don’t want to change anything because it got me here,” she says.

And where it got her was to an Honorary Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive Billboard Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year, from 1997 to 1999. “All of these hits. One writer, one genius, named Diane Warren,” Randy Jackson says in the trailer. Common adds, “She’s one of the greatest songwriters of all time — and still going.”

And as she says in the trailer, Warren has no plans of slowing down: “It’s about your work. I’m still hungry. This isn’t a job, this is my life. You can’t retire from your life.”

Diane Warren: Relentless premieres Jan. 10 in theaters and is available for streaming on MasterClass starting Jan. 23.