dr. jose antonio abreu, who started the first one back in 1975.u first started? >> teniamos once muchachos. >> we only had 11 children rehearsing in cramped conditions. but i had the feeling this was the beginning of something very big. >> dr. breu, a retired economist, trained musician, and social reformer, founded the system and has built it with religious zeal, based on his unorthodox belief that what poor venezuelan kids needed was classical music. >> at its root, this is a social system that fights poverty. a child's physical poverty is overcome by the spiritual richness that comes from music. >> so music actually becomes the vehicle for social change? >> without a doubt. and that's what's happening in venezuela. >> it happens in neighborhoods like this one on the outskirts of caracas. every afternoon, small children line up for free music lessons at a local branch of the system. raphael elster runs one. >> how old are they when you first get them? >> kindergarten, like two years old. >> two years old. >> yeah. learning music. >> two-year-old