PERSON OF THE WEEK: GIVING VOICE
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(OC): And finally tonight, our "Person of the Week." Sometimes there are distances that can only be bridged with creativity and heart. And that's what one man did, winning a so-called Genius Grant, a MacArthur Grant of $500,000 this week. And he did it for making sure children from very different neighborhoods share the lessons they can teach each other.
FRANCISCO NUNEZ (YOUNG CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): Two, three, four...
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(VO): You are looking at a chorus of young people who had no idea they would ever sing together. Their faces diverse, inspired, full of joy and from all economic, religious and cultural backgrounds. They have come to this kind of musical cathedral, where everyone is the same.
FRANCISCO NUNEZ (YOUNG CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): They come in here with heavy book bags and heavy loads of life and they leave here and they are a completely different person.
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(VO): Francisco Nunez is the founder of the Young People's Chorus of New York City. And it is an idea driven by his life. He grew up in a neighborhood filled with gangs, but his mother had an idea. She got a piano and the piano gave him the world. He met people asking questions he had never considered.
FRANCISCO NUNEZ (YOUNG CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): These kids were thinking what am I going to be when I grow up? The kids in my neighborhood, they didn't think about the future. They were dealing only with today.
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(VO): So, his idea was to build a chorus, open to any child in a vast city, willing to show up to rehearsals and put in the work.
MEMBER (YOUNG PEOPLE'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter which neighborhood you come from.
MEMBER (YOUNG PEOPLE'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): You show your really, your emotions.
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(VO): And they not only sing together, they spend hours talking about life and the path ahead.
FRANCISCO NUNEZ (YOUNG CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): It's life changing here because they learn to seek out a different kind of community. They feel comfortable with a person who's very wealthy, a person who is very poor, a person of any kind of color.
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(VO): And what started with just nine kids has now grown into one of the most celebrated children choruses in the world. They've recorded seven CDs, performed at famed venues like Carnegie Hall and traveled all across the globe.
FRANCISCO NUNEZ (YOUNG CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): Music is a common denominator. It's forgiving. You can make a mistake and it's okay. And you can find the right note to make it right.
FRANCISCO NUNEZ (YOUNG CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): And everybody has a voice. So, I think music is a way of teaching children that they're capable of doing great things.
MEMBER (YOUNG PEOPLE'S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY): Show you the way.
DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(VO): And so we choose Francisco Nunez and his song. He says he's going to use the money from the grant to create other choruses across the country and the globe.