It’s the best thing you can do with 18 minutes of your life right now. This man founded El Sistema, a music program focused on the poorest and most vulnerable members of Venezuala - the children, and since beginning with 11 students has grown to work with over 300,000.

I’ve seen two youth orchestras (under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel) perform that are the result of years of training with El Sistema - easily two of the most profound performances on my life.

You can also watch two performances directed by Gustavo Dudamel (a young conductor who came out of the El Sistema program and is now the conductor of the LA Phil, etc) at the TED site as well.