FALA was initiated by a group of students at the Ringling College of Art and Design. With additional support from the Turiyo Foundation, it was able to come alive by initiating a workshop in the rural village of Chauddachuli, which is found in a cluster of villages in the Purba Medinipur District of West Bengal, India. This one-month intensive workshop, funded by the Davis projects for peace grant, enabled us to study potential frameworks to help identify self-learners in a rural community of West Bengal, who were capable of sustaining Fala's long term mission of self-directed learning.