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Three years ago, Seth Shaffer was running a hip-hop record label in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Looking for something more out of life, the Chevy Chase native took off for Dharamsala, India, and wound up finding a cause he never imagined.

Shaffer, 25, is now the president of Harmony Through Education, a nonprofit he founded to help bring educational opportunities to special needs children throughout the world.

"I was raised to be socially conscious, and actually do something and get your hands dirty," Shaffer said from his office in Bethesda Thursday, recently returned from India. "…and how can I witness this and not do something?"

While in India, Shaffer volunteered with Cross-Cultural Solutions, a group that works side-by-side with locals to help achieve community goals. It was in Dharamsala that Shaffer saw firsthand the lack of opportunities for children with physical and mental disabilities.

Upon his return to the United States in 2006, Shaffer set out to form a group that could help not only the children of Dharamsala, but children around the world. He assembled a board of directors and created Harmony Through Education.

In July, the group opened its first school in Dharamsala. It currently has eight students and three teachers.

The focus of the school is to teach the students, who range in age from 6 to 18, skills that can help them through their lives in northern India.

"We try to focus on one particular skill to allow them to become self-sufficient, or work within their family," Shaffer said. "We want to be mindful of what the parents do, so maybe a parent and child can work together."

Skills include papermaking, ironing, sweeping and other manageable tasks.

While programs are available for students with mental and physical disabilities around the Western world, many of these students in Third World countries are marginalized and neglected by their communities. Shaffer's goal is to have the students become contributing members of their own societies.

Members of Harmony's board of directors said the amount of work Shaffer has put into the project since it began has been inspiring.

"I'm stunned at the progress Seth has made in such a small amount of time," said Jeffrey Brand, board member and dean of the University of San Francisco Law School. "I was worried that there would be a great idea with a lot of energy initially then slide away. But not with what Seth is doing; it's in a very thoughtful, sustained way to make it a lasting project."

Sheryl Denbo, another board member, visited India for the opening of the school in July. She said while she was skeptical of the idea at first, Shaffer has changed her mind.

"I wasn't sure he could do it, and I asked ‘Why start a new organization?'" she said. "…but after I saw the kids and their parents, I knew this would work."

Shaffer has already received inquiries about opening schools in Lebanon, Peru and Nepal, and hopes to eventually expand the school to include children without disabilities.

And while the first school has just gotten off the ground, Shaffer said he is looking toward the future, and maybe building a school facility, instead of renting, as the group does now.

Costs, though are prohibitive; to run Harmony for a year it costs about $50,000, he said. Funding has come mostly from donations and fundraising events, Shaffer said.

In the end, though, Shaffer said it's all about the children.

"These kids have never been singled out for anything positive they've done, ever," he said. "Now they have a place where they can come and feel welcome."